Preparation is key for first responders.

“This is part of our everyday routine when I come in,” said Tonawanda paramedic Alex Doll as he went through his routine of checking supplies. “So when I roll up on that call, I’m not surprised by anything.”

Doll has 16 years on the job.

“Every day I come to work, I learned something new for my patients, for my co-workers, for myself,” he said.

He knows how quickly something can turn life-threatening.

“Unfortunately, we're not able to have that positive outcome with every patient we come in contact with, but we definitely try,” explained Doll.

His years of experience helped him develop quick reflexes.

“There's a lot that goes through your mind,” said Doll.

Those reflexed helped him the night of January 15, 2022, when a call came in for smoke billowing from a home.

“[The man living there] knew that he had dropped some ashes, dropped a cigarette on his on his chair, so he tried putting it out himself in which created a lot of smoke," Doll said. "He opened up a back window. Well...he didn't actually put the fire out altogether.”

That open window, a neighbor who happened to be outside, and first responders nearby ended up being the epitome of right place, right time.

Doll pulled up to the scene and rushed into action.

“We can see the flames and the smoke, it was obviously coming from the chair that was on fire,” Doll recalled.

He got inside and to the source of the danger.

“I threw it over this bush and it landed here on the front lawn,” he explained.

The man inside the home was still asleep. He didn't realize how close the situation came to being much worse.

“He didn't have any working smoke detectors in his home," said Doll. "Had the events not occurred that occurred, he could have potentially died in this fire.”

Firefighting isn’t in Dolls job description - it just came as second nature.

“Other training in my head kicked in outside of the paramedic and that's why I did what I did,” he explained.

He’ll keep that up as long as he’s punching in.

“I tried to do it to the best of my ability and hopefully that helps somebody else at the end of the day,” Doll said.

That’s why Alexander Doll is your 2022 American Red Cross Medical Hero.