CAMDEN — It was just before 6 p.m., Oct. 9, when a man driving along Bay View Street in downtown Camden lost consciousness while at the wheel of his SUV.

He and his wife were on the way home from dinner when he apparently suffered a sudden cardiac arrest, slumping unaware over the steering wheel, his car turning perpendicular in the road at the intersection of Frye Street.

His wife called 911 and within minutes Camden Fire Department's Engine 6, manned with firefighters/EMS Brandon Graffam, Jack Orestis, Noah Carlson and Tim Beynart, as well as a North East Mobile Health Services ambulance, staffed with paramedic Ayoub Abbar and Camden firefighter/paramedic Marcus Harden, arrived at the scene.

The rescue crew pulled the driver, 66, from his car, laid him on the road, and immediately began CPR compressions, defibrillating him twice to shock his heart from its arrhythmia, according to Camden Fire Chief Chris Farley. Camden Police Officer Scott Entwistle and Rockport Police Officer Dustin Hedgepath assisted at the scene, as a crowd had gathered around.

Within a matter of minutes, the first responders had achieved return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), and the man's pulse was restored. With applause from the crowd, the crew loaded him into the back of the ambulance, where Harden, Abbar, Orestis and Carlson continued to work on keeping the man alive, while Graffam drove them all to MaineHealth Pen Bay Hospital in Rockport. 

From there, the man was airlifted by LifeFlight helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland.

Farley shared an email from an onlooker, who took the time to write to him just after the emergency.

"My friend and I are in town for a girls weekend, and Camden has been wonderful as usual," she wrote. "But we came out of Waterfront tonight and saw all the emergency vehicles.  Our car was in a spot where we couldn’t leave.  So we witnessed your team saving a man’s life in front of his wife.  Much CPR and 2 defibrillators and he was back.