Dylan M. Goetsch

Dylan M. Goetsch helped to save Jason R. McKee from burning, Sturgis, South Dakota, May 12, 2018. McKee, 47, was unconscious inside a bedroom of a burning, split-level house. Goetsch, 27, police officer, was on duty and went to the scene, where he was told that McKee was inside an upper-level bedroom. Goetsch entered the house, which was filled with dense smoke and flames that were visible in the kitchen on the upper level. Goetsch and a police sergeant moved to the upper level where Goetsch went to his hands and knees and crawled to a bedroom, unable to see more than a few feet in front of him in the thick smoke. Goetsch searched inside the bedroom but did not find McKee. He retreated to the upper-level stairway, where he was told McKee was in a different bedroom. Goetsch crawled to McKee’s bedroom door and opened it, but visibility was limited. He exited the house and climbed a ladder below McKee’s bedroom window and heard McKee breathing. Goetsch descended the ladder, and he and the sergeant entered the house again with wet shirts covering their faces, ran to McKee’s bedroom, and, with difficulty, dragged him from the house as flames spread to the ceiling near them. McKee was hospitalized for smoke inhalation and inhalation burns to his lungs. Goetsch inhaled smoke, and he was examined at the scene. He recovered.

89919 – 10128