‘I knew I needed to do something’: Dighton Junior Firefighter honored for saving choking woman

DIGHTON, Mass. (WLNE) — A Dighton Junior Firefighter was honored this week for saving a woman’s life.

15-year-old Benjamin Courville received the Junior Firefighters Hero Award from The First Responders Children’s Foundation in New York City on Monday.

“It was really cool, especially in Times Square,” Courville said.

Courville was out to eat at the 99 Restaurant in Fall River over the summer when his instincts kicked in.

“I actually could kind of like see the seat and I noticed something was off and then she got up and I was like, ‘are you choking?’ and she nodded her head yes, so that’s when I knew I needed to do something,” Courville said. “I just kind of went up and I did the Heimlich maneuver.”

Benjamin’s mom, Christine Courville, said the woman that her son helped was incredibly grateful for his quick thinking.

“The family was very appreciative,” she said. “They actually paid for his meal and they said a hundred times ‘thank you for saving her.'”

However, Courville said he was just doing what he had to be done.

Through Dighton’s Junior Firefighter Program, he’s gained valuable training and has learned CPR and the Heimlich maneuver.

“We have a six months probation period and during those six months, we get first responder certified, AED, and CPR certified,” Courville said.

Courville said he wants his peers to also learn possibly life-saving measures.

“I feel like everybody in the schools should be able to get that training, for free. I feel like the schools should be able to provide it so that everybody knows what to do,” he said.

Courville plans to enter the fire academy when he turns 18 to help others and protect his community.

For now, he’s got homework to do before he heads back to class at Diman High School in Fall River.