It was a normal April Saturday morning just before noon in the Medical ICU. Nothing was out of the ordinary and no one could anticipate the events that were about to take place in the back of our 16 bed unit. Josh was our charge nurse - he's one of the designated permanent charge nurses of the unit. On an ordinary day he's engaged, aware, helpful, funny, quick to respond and very involved. He responds to alarms, phones, call bells. He makes jokes to keep things light. He makes a stressful environment managable and dare I say fun? He's never too serious. He's one of the best I have worked with on an ordinary day.

On this particular day, a patient's high flow nasal cannula caught fire while in use in the back of the unit. We all heard loud, terrifying screams and tried to figure out what was happening. Josh ran to the back of the unit without hesitation, faster than I have ever seen him run. He didn't know what he was running towards - just that there was screaming and obviously an abnormal situation occuring. It literally could have been anything - I think we were all expecting a fight between people. That was the intensity of the screaming involved. When I got to the area, I saw him already using a fire extinguisher and attempting to put out a fire in the patient's room! (He had just ran by me!) Despite the use of the extinguisher, the fire only grew larger. He went through another fire extinguisher while 2 other nurses removed the patient from the room. The back of his bed was on fire. His face was burnt. His wife's hands were burnt. And yet the flames continued to grow larger in his now empty room. Realizing the severity of the situation, Josh calmly yelled for everyone to evacuate and get the patients out! Smoke was filling the back of the unit, the heat was felt from the flames, and patients and their families were terrified. Everything happened so fast. Josh continued to try to contain and extinguish the fire while we all jumped into other actions. I called 911 directly. I immediately along with many other staff members (RNs, MDs, RTs, CNAs) started pulling patients off CRRT machines, unhooking patients from ventilators and bagging them with portable 02 tanks, transferring to travel monitors and evacuating the back 6 patients all around the fire to the front of the unit. Others were putting more stable patients on bedside oxygen tanks as another nurse cut off the unit's oxygen supply. All of this happened simultaneously as Josh was still trying to contain and extinguish the fire! After 3 extinguishers, he was finally successful! I can't tell you how relieved I was when it was finally out. I honestly was not sure if we were going to put it out!!! He closed the door to that room and immediately jumped into action as a leader to address the aftermath! The chaos would continue to last for the rest of our shift.

After everything immediately settled down and we knew everyone was safe, I saw him covered in white residue from the fire extinguisher. I couldn't believe what I had just experienced and witnessed. It all seemed unreal - like a scene from a show playing out in front of you. A real-life HERO! He acted like it was no big deal. Just another day in the MICU. Just another day in charge. Although there were many heroes that day, I am nominating Josh for this award for his extraordinary bravery and valor! He never hesitated, I never heard him freak out, I never saw him panic, he never showed fear, he took control of the situation and ran towards the danger, putting himself directly in harm's way to save not only the patient directly affected, but also all the other patients on the unit and his staff working that day. It could have been much worse and easily been a devastating deadly situation for us all. As chaotic as it was, it was controlled! I don't know if the outcome would have been the same if Josh were not charge that day. What a true leader! I am eternally grateful to him! He deserves this recognition!!

Note: This is Josh's 3rd DAISY Award!