Motorist suffering from medical emergency able to steer vehicle to DC fire station for help

WASHINGTON - Typically paramedics and firefighters are dispatched for a life or death situation. But on Tuesday, the medical emergency actually landed at their front door.

D.C. Fire and EMS members of Engine 24 were at their station on Georgia Avenue in Northwest D.C. at noon when a man drove up the ramp to the station and started honking his car horn as he started to have some sort of medical emergency.

Firefighters and paramedics were inside at the time and were not out on a call.

One of the medics went out front to see what was going on and nonstop emergency action took over from there.

"Heard the a horn beeping out front," said Bill Whetzel. "It was just a couple of beeps at first then it was just frantic. It was like a doorbell ring. When the bell rings a lot, you know something is happening."

"We didn't exactly know what we were walking out to at the time and then to have an individual talking to us, telling us what's wrong, to immediately going into cardiac arrest, it makes you switch gears a little bit," said Capt. Ed Kauffman.

After he got out of his vehicle, the man suddenly fell onto the ground. The first responders said he had no pulse and performed advance CPR on the scene and continued it on the way to the hospital where the patient arrived in stable condition.