Three off-duty first responders who were attending a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Sunday night sprang into action to help those in need after a faraway gunman sprayed bullets into the crowd.

The men stayed on the scene and helped organize the chaos as 22,000 terrified concertgoers ran to escape what one witness described as “nonstop gunfire.” The attack, which killed 59 people, was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

All three first responders — who are from the Las Vegas area — thought the shots were fireworks at first, they said in a press conference Tuesday.

Jesse Gomez, with the Clark County Fire Department, was attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival across the street from the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino with his family when he heard the shots, he said in a press conference Tuesday.

Gomez initially fled with his family, who begged him not to return to the scene. Although he said it was one of the hardest decisions he’s ever had to make, he felt that he had to help, he said.

The shots were still ringing out as he made his way back, he said.

“I had no idea where it was,” he said. “… It sounded like it was right next to us.”

Gomez then called emergency dispatchers to give them a heads up of what was happening and inform them of where he was sending patients. People were using anything they could to carry the injured out of the venue, including fences, tarps and trash cans, he said.

Gomez told people to head to the east side of the facility, adding that it was difficult to inform people that their loved ones were dead and that they still needed to move and get out of the area.

“I wanted to get these people outta here,” he said.

Gomez’s wife and other family members also assisted in helping to transport the injured to area hospitals, he said. Gomez also thanked members of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, who helped “countless people get away,” including his sister and brother-in-law.

By 1 a.m., nearly three hours after the shooting began, Gomez was finally able to head home, he said.

Anthony Ramboni, an off-duty firefighter from Henderson County at first told his girlfriend that everything was fine, but then hovered over her to protect her as the shooting continued, he said.

He then saw his brother next to him, spitting up blood after he was hit by the gunfire, he said.

A friend led Ramboni’s girlfriend to safety while he stayed in the line of fire to help his brother, he said, adding that it seemed like the rounds never stopped.

Ramboni then carried his brother, whom he called his “best friend,” to the east side of the facility to look for medical attention. He kept looking for an ambulance to place him in, but there weren’t any, he said. He then began to treat his brother himself with first aid gear, he said.

Ramboni then set up a triage and began treating injured victims in the street, he said. Once he finally put his brother in the first ambulance he could find, he was in critical condition, he said.

Ramboni said he saw multiple dead people on the street as well but he couldn’t help them.

Ramboni witnessed a lot of selflessness on the tragic scene, which included victims with less-severe gunshot wounds letting people who were more badly injured get help first, he said. He also saw several people with no medical training take off their off their belts to make tourniquets for strangers, he said.

After helping more people, Ramboni then jumped in the back of an ambulance to head toward the hospital that his brother was taken to, he said.

Ben Cole, a firefighter and paramedic for Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, said he soon realized the popping sounds were not fireworks.

“Once the automatic fire started, we knew it was something else,” he said.

Cole then took cover by running into an area that had overhead protection, he said. Then, he realized that his daughter, who was working the event for Community Ambulance, a private ambulance company, could still be there.

In a fortunate turn of events, Cole’s daughter had received a medical call that required her to respond to another location just before the gunfire started, Cole said.

Once they located each other, Cole and his daughter hugged before exchanging looks and saying, “It’s time to get to work,” Cole said.

The pair then decided to set up a triage even though “there was no official communications established as of yet.” Cole did not have a radio since he was off duty, he said.

Cole called emergency dispatchers from his cellphone and instructed them to send the injured to the triage area, he said. He also praised civilians, saying they were “amazing” and listened to instructions on how to help.

Cole encouraged everyone affected by the attack to “seek the help afterward,” adding that he and his daughter both went to their first counseling sessions on Monday.

A total of 59 people were killed and more than 500 injured in the massacre. The shooting suspect has been identified as 64-year-old Mesquite, Nevada resident Stephen Paddock, who was found dead on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel when authorities entered his room.

—

To view on the ABC News website, click here.

On Tuesday, the International Association of Firefighters held an emotional press conference to discuss how local first responders are holding up following the traumatic events from Sunday evening.

A spokesperson for the association said there were twelve Las Vegas area firefighters who were shot. Some were on-duty, while others were attending the festival on their time off. Two of them were shot while performing CPR. Some of them are still in the hospital.

Firefighter Anthony Rambone of Henderson Fire Department was attending the festival with his older brother, who was shot in the chest. Rambone helped rescue him, and he is in an Intensive Care Unit.

Firefighter Ben Kole with Las Vegas Fire Department was at the festival when he realized his daughter, also a first-responder, was there, too. He frantically ran into the crowd to find her, only to discover she’d been sent to a call on the side of the festival grounds that was furthest from the gunfire. She is all right.

The association stressed the importance of being sure these firefighters receive the proper mental health services. The potential for severe PTSD is high following a mass-casualty event of this nature.

—

To view on the ABC10 website, please click here.

Local firefighters spoke today about the mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip.

Mutliple off-duty firefighters were at the country music festival on Sunday night when the shooting began.

12 firefighters were injured, including 2 who were performing CPR when they were injured.

One of those was a firefighter with the city of Henderson. He was there will his girlfriend and brothers, who’s a UNLV hockey coach.

Anthony Robone talked about how he saw a lot of selflessness during the incident. He described how people with minor injuries insisted on helping others.

Another firefighter talked about how it was the adrenaline that kept the firefighters who were in attendance going at the time. However, those firefighters may be feeling differently now and may have to deal with post traumatic stress. Because of that, the fire department says it will be offering counseling in the future.

—

To view on the 13 Actions News website, please click here.

Compassion and generosity were on full display in Las Vegas on Tuesday, following the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

We spent time at one of three branches of United Blood Services where blood donors were out in full force.

Typically they get about 200 pints per day. They’re now getting 600.

“We’re really just here to help, do whatever we can,” said Amy Prodani, a city resident. “We just feel so much for all of the families and everybody involved, so we just wanted to do our little part. Whatever we could.”

“It’s desperately needed. With all of the people who were hurt and still in the hospital undergoing surgery, there’s not enough,” said David Goodman. “This is the least we could do.”

We also heard from a Vegas-area firefighter who was at the concert with his daughter, who is an EMT, when the gunfire rang out.

“After some time I was able to locate her. It seemed like a long time, but was probably less than a minute. We embraced each other, shed a few tears, looked at each other and said ‘it’s time to get to work,” said Ben Cole of the Las Vegas Fire Department.

—

To view on the ABC6 website, please click here.

Twelve off-duty firefighters were shot in Sunday night’s massacre at a country music festival, including two who were performing CPR on victims when they
were hit.

Another off-duty first responder at the concert had to tell people to leave their dead loved ones behind and get to safety.

Those harrowing details emerged Tuesday at a news conference held by the Professional Fire Fighters of Nevada at the Las Vegas Fire Fighters Union Hall, where uninjured firefighters described what they did when the shooting began.

Las Vegas paramedic and firefighter Benjamin Kole described the moment when bullets began to rain down on the crowd of thousands of concertgoers.

Kole said his friend, who is a corrections officer, knocked him to the ground and shielded him from the barrage.

Seconds later, the two took cover.

“At that time, I realized that my daughter was still there,” Kole told a room of reporters.

Kole’s 20-year-old daughter Rachel was working the event for an ambulance company. The gunfire continued for several minutes, but Kole said he never heard another shot as he searched for his daughter.

“We embraced each other, shed a few tears, looked at each other and said, ‘It’s time to get to work,’” Kole said.

—

To view the full story on Las Vegas Review-Journal’s website, click here.

—

To view on the NBC New York website, please click here.