Peabody firefighter honored for rescue

PEABODY – Firefighter Steven J. Pellegrini was recognized Thursday for his off-duty rescue of an elderly couple from a sinking car in Essex last October.Pellegrini was honored with the FireMark Award from Liberty Mutual. The award is given to between 25 and 50 firefighters per year and is meant to recognize firefighters who “best represent their communities through valor and selfless spirit by assisting in heroic lifesaving efforts.”Pellegrini was an integral part of a rescue on Oct.10 that also included the aid of two patrolmen and the assistant harbormaster of Essex.After the couple’s car hit another vehicle in the parking lot of Periwinkles Restaurant and traveled quickly off a steep embankment into the Essex River, Pellegrini ran down the town dock and joined the assistant harbormaster on the harbormaster’s boat. They reached the sinking vehicle just before it became completely submerged and Pellegrini dove into the 56-degree water to rescue the male passenger.”It comforts me to know that I have such trained professional firefighters who stand ready, willing and able to render life-saving and skillful techniques to assist the citizens of our community and beyond as borne out by this incident,” Peabody Fire Chief Steven Pasdon wrote in a letter to Pellegrini when he was honored in Peabody last December.A patrolman also jumped into the water and another used a kayak to help rescue the pair. The victims, age 95 and 79, were taken to Beverly Hospital and released shortly after.