Steven Frischling: Star Snowboarder AND Firefighter!

This may be Steven Frischling on his way to save
your life and take photos of you!

Wow, now we know how Steven Frischling got from Massachusetts to Ground Zero in only one hour on 9/11... he flew on his magic snowboard!

As he brags on the Sportsshooter message board, he was a sponsored snowboarder in his youth. Though a tragic accident ended his dreams of being Shaun White's nemesis, he still is able to ride down the side of the mountain WHILE shooting!

I was a sponsored competitive snowboard racer in the Slalom, GS and Super G from 1988 to 1991 (A) no one raced snowboards, so sponsors where somewhat easy to find (B) major accident in 1991 ended that. This has given me an edge shooting ski and snowboard racing, I usually know when and where to look when following racers. I actually ended up covering the Winter X Games in 2001 for Mount Snow (host mountain) from the course because I could ride the side of the course while shooting.

In addition to being a snowboarding pioneer in high school, he was also, of course, a professional photojournalist:

Actually I was shooting and working in high school , but most of my income came from snowboard racing. I was injured racing in the '91 US Open Super G, so I lost out on sponsor money.

However, his background is not in snowboarding nor photojournalism, but EMERGENCY RESCUE SERVICES. Wow... a news photographer by day, saving lives by night. He's positively Peter Parker aka SpiderMan! But sometimes, duty called, and instead of taking photos at an accident scene, he would step up and save the day.

My background is in EMS (now expired and out of state), on many occasions I have worked on patients awaiting the arrival of Fire/EMS. When I worked at a paper in VT there was a shortage of medical technicians, it seemed to happen pretty often I'd end up working on patients rather than shooting. Once the EMS crews were staffed I'd pick up my cameras and start to shoot.

One time, he was so intent on saving a victim he was threatened with arrest!

When I lived in New York I arrived at an MVA pin job along with two cops. Neither cop was an EMT, both just had basic first aid, both cops knew I was a news photog, neither knew my night job was as EMT-D/CTC in the Bronx, and that I volunteered with a medical rescue unit (who spent 90% of their time doing highway rescue in Queens/Brooklyn).
Anyway, I refused to release my control of the patient until someone of equal or higher certification arrived. I was threatened with arrest for some made up charge ( I think it was being a non-qualified rescuer interfering with an MVA...they contested that since I arrived as a news photog I had no right to touch the victim). Anyway, it was sorted out quickly, while I still had control of the victim. Since I was in the car and the patient was pinned I missed most photos, not releasing the victim until he was secured to a KED and the roof was removed.

While I am a news photog, and my first duty is usually to make a photo (especially while under contract to a news outlet like I was at the time) I elected to become an EMT-D/CTC, and prefer to help if I can. 99% of the time when qualified medical personnel arrive I step back and grab my cameras.

Luckily I am very expired and out of state now. I can only operate within the guidelines of the Good Samaritan Laws, which is easier.

Frischling 1, Backdraft 0

Here he goes one step further: He was actually a FIREFIGHTER. A firefighter/EMT who was issued a gun, but because of his oath to the MacGuyver Code, refused to carry it:

On the flip side, I had been part of a volunteer medical resuce team in New York for a while, some of our funding came from the DOH's MMST program (Metro Medical Strike Team, which failed and was canned pre-9/11). With the MMST funding the 18 members of the medical unit were issued guns. 17 of the 18 members were medics who were law enforcement trained....and there was a me, a full time news photographer who happened to be a Firefighter/EMT-D-CTC, I was brought in because I had water rescue training, which they needed in the unit to get more funding. I went to a fire arms class, 7 hours, and a gun was issed to the unit for me. I locked it in the trunk of the cruiser and never used it, never put on a holster for any reason. As a medic I never understood why I would need a gun.

So personally I see no reason to have a gun, even when issued one. 

What a guy.