Duane A. Plock helped to rescue Ted A. Fink from burning, Lanark, Illinois, November 20, 1999. Using a tractor, Fink, 45, had just moved a leaking 1,000-gallon tank partially filled with propane into a field of his farm when the escaping gas ignited explosively. A massive cloud of fire was sent into the air, and Fink was set aflame, as were field stubble in the immediate vicinity and gas that continued to escape from the tank. Working at an adjoining farm, Plock, 42, farmer and construction worker, witnessed the accident and immediately responded to the scene. Entering the field, he ran underneath burning vapors to where he joined his brother, who, arriving moments earlier, had found Fink lying near the burning tank and was attempting to extinguish the flames on him. Plock assisted his brother in extinguishing the flames on Fink by throwing dirt on him. The men then removed Fink’s smoldering clothes and stamped out flames immediately around them. Fink sustained second- and third-degree burns to most of his body and required 14 months’ hospitalization. Plock required hospital treatment for smoke inhalation and lesser burns, to a hand. He recovered.
74456 – 8476
74456-8476