Henry Shier died attempting to rescue Virginia M. Shier from burning, Chalk River, Ontario, March 17, 1998. Ms. Shier, 56, was in a basement bedroom of her family’s one-story house when, at night, fire broke out at the furnace, which also was in the basement. Flames spread to the adjacent stairs, blocking them. Ms. Shier’s son, Henry, 28, electronic technician, who had been asleep on the main floor, fled the house, then responded to a point outside a window in the basement bedroom. Gaining access to the house through the window, Henry climbed into the basement. Arriving neighbors saw him at the base of the window with his mother. Efforts by Henry and the neighbors to remove Ms. Shier through the window were not successful, and Henry disappeared from view into the smoke. Firefighters found him and his mother at the base of the window. They had died of smoke inhalation.
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