D.C. COOPER: Rock Star Overseas, EMT In Pennsylvania

Regis Behe of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports: D.C. Cooper is a rock star in Asia and Europe.

He has performed for thousands in sold-out venues in Germany, Holland, Spain and Japan — and he's on tour in Europe now. He has made or performed on 32 albums throughout his career.

But on Feb. 9, the Bellevue resident found himself in a situation in which few musicians have ever been.

As a member of the Bellevue Volunteer Fire Department, Cooper answered an alarm for a fire at a two-story home in Avalon. Once, twice, three times he climbed to a ladder's apex, trying to douse flames in sub-zero temperatures. At some point, Cooper strained his shoulder — probably from trying to chop a hole in the roof with an ax — but either the cold or adrenaline made him numb to the pain.

Then, something went wrong.

According to Bellevue VFD fire chief Jeff Mack, Cooper had been up on the ladder approximately 15 minutes and was suffering from the early stages of hypothermia. Three other firefighters also suffered hypothermia that night, Mack says.

"He would have stayed up there longer if I hadn't called him down," Mack says. "But he's hard-headed. All of my guys are hard-headed like that. They don't want to stop what they're doing."

Cooper descended the ladder, shaking and shivering. He eventually passed out. Later, he learned his body temperature had dropped seven degrees.

When he came to, he was in Mercy Hospital, where many of the nurses, attendants and doctors know him.

"A few people said, 'D.C., what the hell are you doing here?' " Cooper says.

The staff at Mercy recognized him as D.C. Cooper, an emergency medical technician with the McKees Rocks-based Northwest E.M.S. Many times, they'd witnessed Cooper transporting the sick, the injured and the dead.

Read the entire article at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

SILENT FORCE (featuring D.C. Cooper on lead vocals) performing in Atlanta, Georgia: