James Michael Burke died after saving Tracy L. Creighton, Amy L. Franson, and Ryan T. Eaton from burning, Lynn, Massachusetts, March 22, 1997. Ms. Creighton, 20; Ms. Franson, 20, and Ryan, 1, were in the apartment on the third floor of a three-story building when fire erupted in the apartment below them. After being alerted to the fire, the first-floor tenant, Burke, 59, a carpenter who was disabled by emphysema, climbed an inside stairway to the third floor. He alerted Ms. Creighton and Ms. Franson, and they fled the building, taking Ryan. Arriving firefighters found Burke in his apartment, using oxygen. Within moments he suffered cardiac arrest and lost consciousness, and he could not be revived.
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