Douglas Howard Schlegel helped to rescue Walter J. Macaulay, Jr., from burning, Easton, Pennsylvania, March 14, 1997. Macaulay, 58, was in a bedroom on the second floor of his three-story duplex after fire broke out in the living room on the first floor, at night. Police officers, including Schlegel, 37, responded to the scene. Told that Macaulay and others remained inside the unit, Schlegel entered through the front door, crossed the burning living room, then, from the dining room, ascended the stairs to the second floor, where dense smoke precluded visibility. Hearing Macaulay, Schlegel moved through a hall toward the sound of his voice. As flame conditions worsened, Schlegel and Macaulay proceeded to the head of the stairs but in their attempt to flee the burning building fell down the stairs to the first floor. Two other police officers, meanwhile, entered the unit through the back door. With flames spreading into the dining room, the other officers found Macaulay and Schlegel and helped them exit the unit through the back door. Their escape from the premises was further hampered by flames issuing from the building’s first-floor windows, requiring them to tear down a fence at the front of the property. Macaulay was hospitalized for treatment of smoke inhalation and first- and second-degree burns. Schlegel was treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation and minor burns. They recovered.
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