Henry H. Garvey, III

Henry H. Garvey III helped to save Ezekiel T. Wentworth from suffocation, Newburyport, Massachusetts, August 20, 2005. Wentworth, 24, was working with a sealant in an eight-foot-deep concrete cistern that was located below ground under the utility room of a house. The sealant vapors ignited, causing an explosion that was heard throughout the neighborhood. Wentworth was severely burned and lay unconscious on the floor of the cistern. Those responding to the scene included Garvey, 42, manager. Dense smoke filled the utility room and even denser smoke issued from the cistern, access to which was through a hatch in the floor of the room. Learning that Wentworth was inside the cistern, Garvey stepped onto a stepladder in the cistern located beneath the hatch. Holding his breath, he descended to the floor. Unable to locate Wentworth, Garvey climbed partially through the hatch for air. Again he descended, that time with a piece of cut hose as a makeshift breathing tube. Inhaling the acrid smoke, Garvey returned to the hatch. With the aid of flashlights assembled by others, Wentworth was seen on the floor, not far from the base of the stepladder. A third time Garvey descended into the cistern. He dragged Wentworth to the ladder and propped him there, then he ascended the hatch and asked for help. Another man from the neighborhood entered the cistern, and he and Garvey hoisted Wentworth up the ladder to the hatch. Other men pulled Wentworth from the cistern, and Garvey and his co-rescuer followed him out. Wentworth required extensive hospitalization for treatment, including several surgeries, for his burns. Garvey was hospitalized overnight for treatment of smoke inhalation, and he recovered.