Earlier this month, a fire broke out in Brookfield, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. The city called five surrounding fire departments to help, and without hesitation, Anthony D’Amico and his crew hit the ground running.
“I’ve always had a passion to help people. That’s one of the reasons I do what I do,” said D’Amico, a part-time lead TSA officer at General Mitchell International Airport (MKE) and also Brookfield’s full-time assistant fire chief.
D’Amico and the Town of Brookfield Fire Department were the second of five departments to arrive on the scene of a burning two-story townhouse.
The fire started in the garage, and it took crews nearly an hour and a half to subdue the flames. Thankfully, no one was injured, although the townhouse was destroyed.
“The city of Brookfield Fire Department Incident Commander (IC) assigned me to operations,” said D’Amico. “My duties were to assign the incoming departments a task to quickly and safely extinguish the fire with minimal damage, save lives, protect property and report back to the IC with progress and if other resources were needed.”
Wisconsin TSA Customer Support Quality Improvement Stakeholder Manager Frank B. Pipia Jr. said, “Tony is always involved in something heroic.”
A few years ago, D’Amico helped save the life of a passenger who was in medical distress, not breathing at a MKE checkpoint. D’Amico performed CPR until the passenger was able to breathe again, asked for someone to retrieve the automated external defibrillator and kept the traveler calm until paramedics arrived.
Passionate about serving, D’Amico said, “People would always look to me for assistance whenever it was needed.”
Helping is what D’Amico does. “I started my career as a volunteer firefighter in July 1993 and moved up through the ranks, and in 2008, I joined TSA,” he added.
In recognition of D’Amico’s heroic actions, TSA Wisconsin Federal Security Director Mark Lendvay said, “D’Amico is a great asset to our employees and the traveling public.”
By TeaNeisha Barker, TSA Strategic Communications & Public Affairs