Gordon S. Gillespie rescued Fiorella D’Alfonso and attempted to rescue Maria C. D’Alfonso from burning, Toronto, Ontario, February 8, 1975. When a four-door sedan was involved in an accident and fire broke out at the rear, the other occupants got out but Fiorella, 8, and Maria, 11, remained in the rear-seat area. Gillespie, 42, rubber worker, ran to the sedan and from the open front door reached into the rear compartment, where smoke, heat, and fire were increasing. He grasped Fiorella and moved her to the rear door, where his son then pulled her through the window opening. Gillespie probed the back-seat area and located Maria; but before he could secure a hold on her, worsening conditions forced him out of the sedan, which soon afterward was totally afire. Maria’s body was later recovered. Fiorella and Gillespie were hospitalized for burns they had sustained.
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