9-year-old boy among local heroes honored by Red Cross for life-saving actions

PITTSBURGH — Some quick-thinking local heroes were honored at the Heinz History Center during the American Red Cross’ Power of Red breakfast Wednesday. One of the honorees was a 9-year-old boy, who’s credited with saving his family’s life during a fire.

“It was pretty nerve-wracking,” said Shivansh Shivansh about this past New Year’s Day.

“My mom was, like, making pizza. My brother told me there was a fire. There was a fire. He was yelling, so I told my dad to contact emergency services and pulled the fire alarm.”

Those are all of the skills Mt. Lebanon firefighters taught at school.

“I do a lot of coaching, and when you coach, you can see the justification kind of instantly, and in fire safety, you don’t really see that you’re kind of hoping and that they retain all the information,” said Brian Loughridge of the Mt. Lebanon Fire Department.

A different moment of quick thinking may have saved Dennis Soroka’s life.

“They gave me a second chance in life,” Soroka said.

He recalled going into cardiac arrest.

“I was heading to the pharmacy, and next thing I knew, I was on the ground.”

Cardiology nurse Crystal Haus was nearby.

“We heard an emergency response to the pharmacy, and I said to my husband, ‘We should go check that out,’” she recalled.

Crystal and her husband, City of Arnold Chief of Police Rob Haus, jumped into action.

“We just happen to be at the right place at the right time, and it was just good knowing we were able to help save a life,” Rob Haus said.

When it comes to fires like the ones at Shivansh’s home, the Red Cross says it responded to 100 more fires this year compared to last year in our region.

Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW