Jason W. Thurston rescued Nina Tyutyunnyk from burning, Northport, Maine, December 24, 2010. Tyutyunnyk, 71, was inside her one-story home after fire erupted in a bedroom and sent smoke throughout the house. A neighbor, Thurston, 30, was alerted to the fire and informed that Tyutyunnyk was inside. He went to the scene, entered the structure through a side door opening off a deck, and found Tyutyunnyk fighting the fire in the bedroom. He pulled her outside, but she re-entered and returned to the bedroom. Again Thurston entered the house and pulled her out, but she repeatedly broke away from him to re-enter the structure, during which she inhaled smoke and sustained burns to her face, arms, and back. Thurston re-entered the house a final time and took Tyutyunnyk to the deck. Flames grew to engulf the bedroom and spread beyond it. Tyutyunnyk required hospitalization for treatment of her injuries. Thurston, his hair singed, was given oxygen at the scene and treated at the emergency room for smoke inhalation. He recovered.
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