John V. Monheim helped to save Ellen L. Toalston from burning, Orrville, Ohio, January 5, 1990. Mrs. Toalston, 37, was unconscious in the passenger seat of a burning car after a highway accident. Driving nearby, Monheim, 56, operations manager, stopped at the scene and ran to the car, the rear and rear interior of which were aflame. Despite the blistering heat, Monheim and another man who had arrived extended their upper bodies through the open window of the passenger door and started to remove Mrs. Toalston, but an explosion, thought to be a tire, forced them to withdrawn. Flames increasing, Monheim and the other man again partially entered the car, grasped Mrs. Toalston, and removed her. They dragged her to safety shortly before the car was engulfed in flames. Mrs. Toalston was hospitalized one week for bruises. Monheim was treated at the hospital for first- and second-degree burns to the left side of his face, and he recovered.
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