An active honorary member who was a past firefighter in the Wurtsboro Fire Department suffered cardiac arrest as he was performing CPR on a neighbor, who also suffered an apparent heart attack. Both the firefighter and the patient later died.
The Good Samaritan in the Saturday evening event was identified by Wurtsboro Fire Chief Richard Dunn as 62-year-old Robert Cordani. Dunn said Cordani responded to his neighbor’s home in Wurtsboro Hill for a call of cardiac arrest and performed CPR until paramedics and State Police arrived. During the procedure, Cordani also went into cardiac arrest, the chief said.
Both men were taken to Orange Regional Medical Center in the Town of Wallkill, where Dunn said Cordani was pronounced dead.
The neighbor also died, said Sullivan County Fire Coordinator John Hauschild.