Fairuz Jane Schlecht

Fairuz Jane Schlecht rescued a 9-year-old girl, 6-year-old girl, and a 5-year-old boy from burning, Newport Beach, California, December 20, 2022. The three children were in a second-floor bedroom of a two-floor apartment in a multi-family building when flames broke out in the apartment’s first-floor living room. The flames spread to the apartment’s second-floor master bedroom at the opposite end from the children’s room. Schlecht, 51, car designer, lived in a second-floor apartment adjacent to the burning apartment. She was exiting the building when she was told that the children were on the second floor shouting for help. Schlecht ran up a stairway and into her apartment, then to a service door there. She opened her service door and then a second one that opened into the burning apartment. She ran down a smoke-filled hallway in the intense heat to the children’s bedroom. The apartment was filled with high-pitched and loud noises, along with swirling smoke and heat. She kicked in the bedroom door and gathered the children. She ran back down the hallway with them and pushed the older girl through the apartment’s service door. The younger girl ran into the flame-filled master bedroom and Schlecht, who was holding the boy, entered the bedroom and the girl ran back to her. Schlecht exited the building with the children. The 6-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy inhaled smoke; they recovered. They were not burned. The 9-year-old girl had reduced oxygen levels and minor burns to her feet; she recovered. Schlecht inhaled smoke and suffered a loss of hearing in her right ear. She was not burned.