Barbara Ann D’Hondt saved Mitchell A. R. Kovac from burning, Novi, Michigan, October 2, 2001. Mitchell, 4, was asleep in the master bedroom in one end of his family’s mobile home after fire broke out in the adjoining utility room. Discovering the fire, his older brother alerted a neighbor, Ms. D’Hondt, 42, molding operator, who immediately responded to the scene. Ms. D’Hondt entered the mobile home through its front door and searched for Mitchell in the bathroom and bedroom in the opposite end of the structure. Although smoke by then precluded visibility, she then went to the master bedroom, en route passing the burning utility room. Finding Mitchell, Ms. D’Hondt woke him, then picked him up, returned to the front door, and exited the mobile home to safety with him. Mitchell and Ms. D’Hondt sustained minor smoke inhalation from which they recovered.
75662 – 8606
75662-8606