Former Fireman Saves Co-Passenger's Life On Alaska Airlines Flight

A retired firefighter on board an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Kona, Hawaii, on Monday saved an elderly woman's life by helping the crew use the automated external defibrillator (AED) device on the plane after she went into cardiac arrest.

Alaska Airlines Flight 843 was then diverted to San Francisco International Airport. The emergency crew that waited at the airport transported the woman to a hospital. Officials said the woman was stable, NBC Bay Area reported. The officials also said the firefighter was from Bellingham, Washington. The plane was two-and-a-half hours into the flight when the incident occurred.

Airport authorities had earlier confirmed the Alaska Airlines flight made an emergency landing due to a medical emergency after an elderly female was unresponsive on the plane.

Additional information was not available.

In a similar incident in September, a firefighter on board a Ryanair flight saved an elderly woman who suddenly fell ill. Daniel, the firefighter, took notice of the woman’s ailing condition and checked her pulse. He took immediate action after he realized the woman had no heartbeat.

He moved the passenger to a better location, performed CPR and used defibrillating paddles. This improved her oxygen levels and saved her life. Daniel later called it a “daunting situation” and said the woman’s sudden unconsciousness was caused by bleeding in the brain, Magic Mum reported.

In another similar incident in June, Kenny Homer, a firefighter from Dallas, Texas, helped save a woman’s life using things he found around the plane after she fell unconscious.

The firefighter was 30 minutes into his flight to Mexico when he saw a woman unconscious in the seat behind him. He picked her up, laid her on the floor and asked other passengers to elevate her feet. He examined the woman and realized the situation was urgent.

"She did bottom out, that's a term that's used where her blood pressure dropped, blood sugar was low. It can be pretty bad. You can go into shock. A lot of things can happen during that time when a person's blood pressure bottoms out,” he told WFAA.

He then obtained a blood pressure monitor from a nurse who was on the plane and a blood sugar monitor from a diabetic passenger. He performed CPR, gave the woman oxygen and stayed by her side until she regained consciousness. The flight landed two hours later at Mexico airport where an ambulance was waiting. Homer was honored by the fire department when he returned.

"I think God puts us in certain situations in certain times, I think that's why I was on that flight in that particular seat. It's not a coincidence that I was there,” Homer said.