COEUR d'ALENE — When Bill Span heard a ruckus unfolding behind him at Cricket's Restaurant and Oyster Bar, he sensed someone was in trouble.

He turned and looked.

"Right away, I knew it was a choking situation," he said.

The visitor from Kirkland, Wash., also recognized that the older man who had slumped over needed help, quickly.

Span provided it and Tuesday was honored for being instrumental in saving a life.

"I think, when there is a live-action event, you have to participate and keep people from dying," he said Tuesday evening after receiving the Award of Exemplary Action from the Coeur d'Alene Fire Department during the Coeur d'Alene City Council meeting in the Library Community Room.

Coeur d'Alene Fire Chief Tom Greif said Span's action's were heroic.

"Him beginning CPR bought time for those medics to get there and clear that airway that was totally obstructed," Greif said.

Span was eating dinner Jan. 5 at Cricket's when he turned to help the man, who appeared lifeless.

He said the family didn't seem to know what to do, and an employee tried the Heimlich maneuver but it didn't work.

Span stepped in and also administered the Heimlich, but the man still didn't respond.

So Span laid him down and put his finger down his throat, dislodging what he believed was a meatball.

"That was enough to where we started chest compressing him for about 10 minutes or 13 minutes until the EMTs got there," Span said.

Medic 31, staffed with two paramedics, was the first crew to arrive.

"With a lack of initial responders present, Mr. Span was asked by the paramedics to continue doing chest compressions while they began to prepare for further lifesaving measures," the award said.

Paramedics soon took over, but asked Span to help them by retrieving equipment from their gear bags.

"This extra set of hands proved invaluable, allowing the paramedics to work quickly to save the life of the patient," the award said.

This wasn't Span's first time displaying courage under pressure.

He said about three years ago in downtown Coeur d'Alene, he helped another man who was choking and not breathing.

But he and another person brought the man back "from a limp, dead state," again by clearing his airway.

Span said his experience as a sea captain prepared him for such situations.

"I've dealt with this kind of thing," he said.

Greif said the fire department likes to publicly honor people who take decisive action.

He believes it may encourage others to learn CPR, first aid or how to operate an automated external defibrillator.

Some initially balk at receiving such recognition, but later agree to it.

"They don’t want to do it for the plaque," Greif said. "They do it to help us."

Span said that after everyone left that night, it took some time to collect himself.

"Very raw and hard to get over it right away," he said.

Later, with little fanfare, he went back to his dinner.

"The clam linguine is really good there," Span said.