Edward Harry Hilles, 30, helped to save Robert L. Reinert, 32, sign shop foreman, from burning, Lebanon, Ohio, November 29, 1966. Fire broke out an a metal balcony 10 feet above the floor of a sign shop in a one-story concrete block building, and the flames spread rapidly among supplies which included wooden-framed silk screens and drums of paint, lacquer, and thinner. Hilles, Thurman Ray Ward, Linwood Bosley, and others working in the shop left the building. Reinert went to the gas ovens and turned them off but then lost his way in the dense smoke and called for help. By that time flames had burned through the tar-covered tin roof 10 feet above the balcony. Hilles, Ward, and Bosley heard Reinert’s shouts and entered the smoke-filled shop. Ward and Bosley followed Hilles toward Reinert, who could be heard coughing. Heat was very intense. The three men passed within six feet of flames from supplies on the floor of the shop. Flames on the balcony issued 10 feet from it as the men passed underneath. They found Reinert about 75 feet from the door. He was nearly overcome by the smoke. Above the noise of the flames, the men heard metal cracking and cane exploding. Hilles steadied Reinert. The three men took Reinert 75 feet to the door, again passing within six feet of the burning material on the shop floor. They emerged from the building as firemen arrived. The shop was a total loss.
49308 – 5312
49308-5312