John Delcol saved Cheryl Ann Hinton and four others from suffocation, Windsor, Ontario, November 4, 1964. When fire broke out in the living room of a two-story brick dwelling and filled the other rooms with dense smoke, Cheryl Ann, 6, her sister, and her brother were gathered into a first-floor bedroom by their grandparents. The grandfather opened the bedroom window but could not remove the storm window. Delcol, 46, welder, and another man were attracted by smoke issuing through the broken windows of the living room and a sun room, to which the flames had spread. The other man broke the storm window of the bedroom, and they heard children crying in the smoke-filled room. Delcol climbed into the bedroom, where he could see nothing because of the dense smoke. Heat was intense. Moving away from the window, Delcol found Cheryl Ann and then her sister. He handed each through the window opening to the man outside. After taking in fresh air, Delcol moved farther into the room and located the brother. Unable to find the window, he called to the other man, who directed him to the opening. Delcol handed the brother to the man. By then flames were rising four feet above the broken windows of the living and sunrooms. Delcol withdrew into the bedroom again and thrust the grandfather to the window opening, where the man outside aided him to the ground. Hearing the sound of another person in the dwelling, Delcol asked the other man to shout and pound on the wall so that he could find his way back. Six feet from the window, Delcol reached a bed, made his way around it. and reached the door of another room. Two feet inside the room he stumbled over the grandmother, who was unconscious. He carried her into the bedroom. Guided by the pounding and shouting, Delcol crawled over the bed, carried the grandmother six feet to the window, and handed her through the opening. Delcol then climbed out, badly nauseated. Delcol had sustained burns to his face, and the others were treated for smoke inhalation. All recovered.
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