Glencoe recognizes off-duty officer and wife for life-saving actions during apartment fire

It’s been a heck of a few weeks for Steven and Samantha Solimini.

The couple was married on Sept. 14. A couple of days later they closed on their purchase of a home. But it was an event in August that put Steven and Samantha in front of the Glencoe Village Board on Sept. 19.

The pair received special honors for their respective heroism on Aug. 12, when they collaborated to evacuate apartment buildings in Wauconda during a fire.

“Their acts were above reproach and exemplified what it truly means to never be completely off duty,” said Sean Loughran, Glencoe Public Safety director, about Steven Solimini, a Glencoe police officer. “If not for their quick response and actions, there is little doubt that grave consequences and/or death would have been the outcome.”

Solimini told The Record that he was driving with Samantha in Wauconda when she saw an apartment unit on fire in the 200 block of Wethington Drive.

Steven Solimini wasted no time and turned the car around on Route 176.

“It was just instinct, just one of those things,” he said. “She didn’t see any police or fire trucks there yet, so my job is to react appropriately. I drove her Mazda like it was a police car.”

Once on the scene of the fire, Steven spoke outside the building to the occupant of the burning unit. Then, he went inside in an effort to evacuate the other units, while Samantha went to the neighboring complex to do the same.

Shouldering doors and getting residents’ attention, Steven went inside the burning building three times. Next door, Samantha rang buzzers and knocked on windows to get people up and out of their homes.

The fire drew 12 different departments to the scene and damaged five of the eight units in the building, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

“Looking back at it, it was a cool thing that we did. It’s very exciting,” Steven Solimini said. “It’s one of those things; it was just instinct and why most people become police or firefighters, to help people and react and do what we can. It was a very proud of moment for us.”

Steven Solimini grew up in Wauconda. Samantha in Des Plaines. The couple met while working at the same gym in Wauconda.

Steven went into the police academy and began working at the Palatine Police Department, while Samatha continued her personal training business.

In January of this year, Steven was hired by Glencoe Public Safety and said it’s been his best professional decision to date.

Glencoe showed its appreciation on Sept. 19, awarding Steven with the Life Saving Award and Samantha with the Citizen Award.

“We couldn’t be more proud,” Village President Howard Roin said at the meeting. “It makes us proud of the village because you wanted to work here. It makes us proud of our Public Safety Department that you want to work with them. It makes me proud of our Public Safety Commission for figuring out we should hire you. What the two of you did, most people live their lives without ever having done anything like that, so we are so thrilled to be associated with the two of you.”

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