Barry Schafer helped to rescue Gerald D. McElroy from burning, Dalhart, Texas, June 26, 2002. McElroy, 63, remained inside the cab of the tractor-trailer he had been driving, after a head-on collision with another vehicle. He lay on the floor, unable to move, as flames entered the cab through the floor. Schafer, 19, lawn care service provider, who lived nearby, heard the accident and responded to the scene, where he learned from two other men who had arrived that McElroy remained in the burning cab. Despite dense smoke inside the cab, Schafer entered it through the passenger door and pulled McElroy from the floor to the passenger seat. While Schafer pushed McElroy from the cab, one of the other men aided from outside it, then Schafer and the other men took McElroy away from the truck. Flames shortly engulfed the cab. McElroy was hospitalized for third-degree burns to his right leg.
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