James T. Brown saved Donnan M. Caraway from burning, Chico, Texas, December 15, 1998. Donnan, 14, was inside her family’s mobile home after fire erupted in the living room and filled the home with dense smoke. Donnan retreated to the rear bedroom. A motorist, Brown, 43, purchasing agent, drove upon the scene and stopped. Donnan’s mother had escaped the mobile home and, unable to re-enter, was fighting the fire with a garden hose. She told Brown that Donnan remained inside. Directing to be wet down with the hose, Brown entered the mobile home through its rear door and crawled into the bedroom where Donnan’s mother suspected her to be. Dense smoke precluded any visibility. Unsuccessful in locating Donnan, Brown crawled back toward the door for further direction. On his second attempt, he located Donnan on a bed in that room. He pulled her off the bed, then held her as he crawled back to the door. He deposited Donnan through the door, then, with help, exited the mobile home himself. Donnan was hospitalized two days for treatment of smoke inhalation, and she recovered. Brown also required hospital treatment, for having inhaled smoke, and he too recovered.
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