James W. Barr, 24, tractor-scoop operator, saved James R. Warman, 34, engine operator, from burning, Weirton, West Virginia, June 7, 1955. Warman was in the cab of his diesel engine beside a converter pit in a steel mill while molten iron was being poured into the converter from a large vessel on a car behind the engine. Through a break which occurred in the bottom of the vessel approximately 60,000 pounds of the molten iron flowed onto the concrete floor and spread over an area 90 feet long and 28 feet wide, welding the wheels of the engine to its track and trapping Warman inside the cab. A protective coat and a plank tossed toward Warman by other workmen burst into flames as they fell onto the molten iron, which then had a temperature of at least 2,000 degrees and generally was three inches thick. Barr was 200 feet away operating a tractor-scoop from an open seat suspended between the tractor treads four feet above the floor and directly in front of a fuel tank containing 30 gallons of fuel oil. He rapidly drove the vehicle to the scene and continued 25 feet into the molten iron, where flames as much as 18 inches high rose intermittently from cracks in the iron’s crust. Heat was intense, and thick sulphurous fumes caused a choking sensation. The diesel engine’s understructure was beginning to melt; and smoke was rising from its fuel tank, which contained 100 gallons of fuel oil, as Barr stopped the tractor with the scoop a foot from the engine’s cab. He raised the scoop to the cab door, and Warman stepped into it. Barr immediately attempted to drive the tractor backward, but it would not move. He then sped up the motor, and the vehicle moved in reverse to safety after being completely within the area of molten iron for 20 seconds. The faces of Warman and Barr were reddened, and both men were nauseated from the fumes. They recovered.
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