Columbus Cook saved Darrion D. High from burning, Jacksonville, Texas, April 13, 2007. High, 38, was in a bedroom of his grandmother’s one-story house after fire broke out in a bedroom across the hall and filled the structure with dense smoke. Alerted to the fire, Cook, 49, truck driver, immediately responded to the scene from another residence in the neighborhood. He entered the burning house through the front door, but heavy smoke, which precluded visibility, nearly overwhelmed him, forcing him out. A second attempt was likewise abandoned. Cook entered the house a third time and, crouched over, felt his way about 25 feet to High’s bedroom. Finding High standing just inside the doorway, Cook picked him up and carried him to the front door as flames issued into the hall from the room of origin. They exited the house to safety. Cook suffered a minor burn to one leg, and he recovered.
80372 – 9171
80372-9171