Jacob V. Sacoski saved Nancy C. and Barbara A. Sands from burning, Eastchester, New York, January 15, 1945. Nancy,2, was in a bedroom on the third floor of a brick apartment building when fire started in the livingroom on the second floor close to a stairway to the third floor. Barbara, 5, ran into the bedroom and opened a window. Sacoski, 58, porter, from the street ascended a stairway to a landing on the second floor and entered the livingroom, which was full of smoke. Flames three feet high covered a desk and an upholstered chair that were at the side of the stairway to the third floor; and a balustrade that extended seven feet from the foot of the stairway had caught fire. Heat was intense. Sacoski ascended the stairway and entered the bedroom, which was full of smoke. He lifted Nancy from a bed, and holding her under one arm, descended the stairway, flames then rising three feet from the balustrade and extending a foot over the steps. He carried Nancy through the livingroom to the landing, and a woman then took her. After taking several breaths, Sacoski again entered the apartment and went up into the bedroom. Clasping Barbara in one arm, he returned to the stairway, draped the bottom of his overcoat over her bead, and holding her beneath one arm and shielding his face with the other, ran down, passing through flames that extended across the stairway. Circling flames in the livingroom, he walked rapidly to the landing, handed Barbara to a woman, and went outside. He was nauseated, his eyebrows were singed, and his overcoat was scorched. The children were slightly affected by smoke but suffered no burns. 40361-3390
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