Charles Sidney Fitch, 19, surveyor, saved Dorothy M. Giles, 35, from burning, Louisville, Kentucky, April 13, 1962. Mrs. Giles, her daughter, and her son were asleep in separate bedrooms in a one-story frame dwelling when fire broke out in the kitchen-dining room area and spread into the hallway. The son and daughter escaped through windows and then shouted to their mother. Mrs. Giles awoke and started to leave but was overcome by smoke and fell unconscious to the floor of her room. The daughter ran to the dwelling next door, from where she telephoned firemen and then called Fitch, a friend of the family. Meanwhile the neighbor ran to the Giles dwelling, where the son had placed a ladder beneath the window of his mother’s room. The neighbor opened the bedroom window and tried without success to reach Mrs. Giles from outside. Coughing from the dense smoke, he descended the ladder as Fitch arrived. Fitch climbed into the smoke-filled bedroom, where heat was intense. Flames then completely filled the kitchen-dining room area, which adjoined the bedroom, and Fitch could see the glow of flames at the doorway. Fitch moved alongside the bed, probing its surface. Having difficulty in breathing, he returned to the window for air. As he did so, his foot touched Mrs. Giles. After thrusting his head outside briefly, Fitch held his breath and got to his knees. He crawled four feet to Mrs. Giles and took hold of her, but her hands tightly clasped the bed. Fitch broke her hold his exertion causing him to inhale smoke. Coughing violently, he rose to his feet, dragged Mrs. Giles to the window, and lifted her onto the sill, the paint of which was blistered. A fireman stepped onto the ladder and, with Fitch helping from inside, removed Mrs. Giles from the dwelling. Nearly exhausted by the intense heat, Fitch thrust his head outside and took in fresh air. He then turned back to look for others he believed to be inside. The fireman stepped onto the ladder, grasped Fitch, and pulled him through the window opening. Fitch was aided to the ground and then collapsed. He and Mrs. Giles were revived. Firemen extinguished the flames. Mrs. Giles was hospitalized for extensive burns. Fitch was treated for smoke inhalation and shock. Both recovered.
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