911 Heroes honour seven Calgary youths for bravery

Recognizing remarkable young heroes on Friday, the City of Calgary honoured seven young Calgarians at the 911 Heroes Awards Ceremony at the TELUS Spark Science Centre.

This awards ceremony is held every year by the Calgary Police Service (CPS) and Calgary 911 to honour young heroes who went above and beyond during an emergency to help someone in need.

“It’s really important that the kids are calm and provided the right information so we could first respond appropriately and it just shows how much they commit to community safety by really helping us out,” said CPS Deputy Chief Chad Tawfik.

Each young hero was nominated by the Calgary 911 emergency communications officer who took their call.

“I think that’s the best part of today, obviously honouring the kids, but seeing the pride in the parents’ eyes,” said Glenda Sahlen, 911 deputy chief.

CPS says these kids are no less than real-life heroes as their timely call to 911 helped save lives, or prevent an attempted robbery, or protect a house from burning down.

Fifteen-year-old Aleksander Tymchuk, a Calgary 911 Heroes Awards recipient, was getting off the bus with his friend and fellow award recipient 14-year-old Jade Nicholl when they smelled smoke in the air and called 911.

The two noticed a garbage bin on fire, with the flames spreading towards a vehicle and fence. So, they went to knock on the door of the home to see if anyone was there, and quickly called 911.

In addition, officials note the pair worked to ensure everyone stayed away from the area.

“The car might have exploded or just caused some very serious damage, and I felt … ignoring it would just be very selfish and I might have been accountable for maybe the family’s lives,” Aleksander explained to CityNews.

Another young hero, 11-year-old Dhruv Luhar, had the presence of mind to call 911 in a situation involving an armed suspect.

While their family was home, Dhruv noticed someone trying to take his father’s truck, so the youth sprung into action and called 911. Officers also note he was able to provide key information, including that the suspect was carrying a knife.

“So I looked out the window and someone was in my dad’s truck and they were trying to rob it and look through the stuff, so I called police,” Luhar said.

Officers say Dhruv remained calm the entire time and made sure everyone stayed away from the suspect. He also explained to his family that help was on the way.

His father, Jagdish Luhar, says Dhruv “called on time, so we saved our truck and we saved our lives.”

Emilia Jones stumbled into a tricky situation with the bathroom door being stuck, and her mother trapped inside.

“‘Oh no, my mom is in trouble, I have to call the police,'” Emilia said while explaining her thoughts at the time. “And I was really panicking.”

The 10-year-old made the 911 call and explained the situation to the operator, helping her mother in the process. She also tried to help get the door unstuck at the time.

Officers say when the firefighters arrived, Emilia helped by ensuring the front door was unlocked, led the way to where her mom was, and made sure nothing was in their way so the stuck door could be safely removed.

“I am really honoured to get this award and it was really nice to get it. And the trophy is really gorgeous too.”

The other heroes include 15-year-old Izziah Richards, who noticed a driver striking at a passenger multiple times, telling police that the passenger needed help; 11-year-old Ethan Kim, whose family was on the receiving end of a hit-and-run, prompting him to take photos of the fleeing car and provide important details to operators; and 10-year-old Akashdeep Dhaliwal, who was also involved in a vehicle collision due to another driver running a red light, leading him to provide helpful details of the vehicle to police.

Each year, Calgary 911 receives more than one million calls making it one of the largest public safety answering points in Canada.