He assumed the leadership of the Local Police of Guía de Isora in June of last year, a position that he makes compatible with the presidency of the Municipality’s Volunteer Firefighters, which he has held for 27 years. “When things depend on one person alone, they don’t work, that’s why you have to try to make everything move without being in the places,” says Francisco Ruiz Hernández, 47, who yesterday was decorated by the Government of the Canary Islands for saving the life to two people in just one month.
Paco’s first decisive action, as he is known in Guía de Isora, occurred while he was eating in a tavern in the town with some friends. Suddenly, a young woman ran down from the upper part of the premises shouting “help, help!” Francisco immediately looked away from him and spied a man behind a girl he was jumping at.
“I went up, I pushed the boy away, who was her boyfriend, and I began to do, almost intuitively, the Heimlich maneuver, and he automatically expelled a piece of tomato with which he had stumbled. choked; the truth is that the girl was fatal and, when she managed to breathe, she began to cry. These are situations that force you to act quickly and, luckily, she turned out well, ”Francisco Ruiz explained to DIARIO DE AVISOS.
A month later, at the festive ceremony to mark the 25th anniversary of the Guía de Isora Volunteer Firefighters, which brought together almost a hundred people in Las Terrazas de Abama, Francisco was called to lead another decisive action. He was sitting next to the main table, which was occupied by the president of the Cabildo, Pedro Martín; the Isorana mayoress, Josefa Mesa; the national deputy Héctor Gómez, and the director of the hotel company Abama Domingo del Campo.
“We were eating when, suddenly, I see that Mr. Del Campo abruptly rolls his chair back, gets up and Héctor Gómez stands up and begins to shake him. The man was sweating, suffocating, and looked like he was going to collapse. I picked him up, hugged him from behind, lifted him up the first time, but he left me, and the second time I did the maneuver until he was able to expel a piece of meat. He, who was taller than me, was drenched in sweat, immediately hugged me and whispered in my ear: “You just saved my life”.
Minutes later, having recovered from the mishap, the hotel manager confessed his conviction that “he would not tell”, although in his agony he came to think that with so many firefighters and policemen in the room someone could help him, as it was.
Francisco Ruiz, who starred in both actions while off duty, acknowledges that the second case was a “little more complicated”, since it was difficult for the choking person to free himself from the piece of meat that was preventing him from breathing. Despite his two heroic actions, the head of the Isorana Local Police downplays what he did: “I acted as I should, I don’t give it much importance either”, as if he had not finished processing that two people continue with their life projects because one day he was sitting at the next table. Yesterday he received the distinction of the Canary Islands Security System and the applause of the island society.
