Dab Umeh helped to save Sallie Orman from burning, Daytona Beach, Florida, July 20, 2001. Ms. Orman, 48, was inside her room in an assisted living facility after fire erupted in a closet of that room. Visiting there, Umeh, 21, college student, helped to evacuate residents then learned that Ms. Orman was unaccounted for. After he and others attempted to reach her room but were repulsed by smoke, Umeh went to a window outside the room and broke the glass. Twice he entered the room partially through the window, calling to Ms. Orman. On a third entry, he crawled across a bed below the window, then stood. Dense black smoke prohibited him from seeing Ms. Orman, who lay on the floor, but he brushed against her. He then pulled her to her feet and pushed her across the bed to the window. As he maneuvered her through the window, a police officer who had responded pulled her from the building. Ms. Orman was hospitalized for treatment of smoke inhalation, and she recovered. Umeh also required hospital treatment, for smoke inhalation and cuts. He recovered.
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