Thursday, bystanders performed CPR on an unresponsive man on the sidewalk in front of the Turnage Theatre in downtown Washington. The quick actions of Vidant Beaufort Hospital ER nurse Helen Brinn, Vidant Medical Center nurse Sydney Spencer and CPR-certified yoga instructor Lilly Roberson Jones, among several others who joined in to take turns doing chest compressions, paved the way for paramedics to bring the man back to life, according to officials.

For all those contributing — telecommunicators walking the 911 caller through Emergency Medical Dispatch protocol, those lifesaving volunteers who performed CPR, Washington Police officers, Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office employees, Beaufort County EMS paramedics, Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS paramedics — the team effort was a success: the man, who had no pulse when CPR was initiated, was trying to breathe on his own by the time he was transported by ambulance to Vidant Beaufort Hospital. He later was sent to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville.

To Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office E-911 Center Director Vic Williams, the cardiac incident on Main Street is just a partial view into the highs and lows of what first responders do every day, and just how narrow the line between life and death can be. Friday, Williams described in more detail the behind-the-scenes events surrounding the minor accident and cardiac arrest downtown.

At 11:13 a.m., Chocowinity EMS was dispatched to a call for a sick person and was at that scene for 28 minutes. At 11:17 a.m., Washington EMS 2 and BC EMS Medic 1 responded to the call of a woman in labor, the baby crowning. Paramedics were with her for 42 minutes. At 11:19 a.m., Washington EMS 1 was dispatched to the report of a disoriented person — paramedics were there for 31 minutes. At 11:22 a.m., a call came in for a person who’d fallen out of a car in Washington.

Washington Fire engines 1 and 2 were at that scene for 31 minutes, along with Broad Creek EMS, which had to come into the city to fill in for Washington units already engaged.

By the time the West Main Street emergency occurred, all units were tied up.

Williams was standing in the E-911 center when the cardiac arrest call came in.

“The first thing I thought was, ‘Man, we’re out of trucks,’” Williams said.

He turned to BCSO Systems Administrator Jordan Gold standing next to him, asked if he knew CPR and the two men rushed toward West Main Street.

“We booked it on foot through the parking lot between buildings,” Williams said. “We went because we knew it might be a while before a truck got there.”

Williams said combined with two other 911 calls that came in after noon — a fire and a call for assistance from BCSO deputies — the window of time between 11:13 a.m. and 12:26 p.m. Thursday provides a view into the highs and lows of 911 and first responders.

“It was like the perfect storm with a good outcome. … You got normal EMS calls, then you’ve got a stressful, but a happy moment, because a baby was born, then you go the lowest because there’s a younger person who’s in cardiac arrest,” Williams said. “And it all happened and that (cardiac arrest) call happened right there in the middle. And he survived.”

Williams said everyone involved in Thursday’s incident did a tremendous job, but the number of calls coming into the E-911 Center in the short span of time speaks to the importance of having the existing number of paramedics, EMTs and vehicles available in the county, which some have criticized as excessive.

“In an hour window, this is what can happen in Beaufort County. That’s not an unusual day. That can happen any day,” Williams said. “One more bad call in that hour block, and it could’ve been disastrous.”