Joseph A. McGuire saved Matthew T. Golden and helped to save Diana A. Johnston from burning, Westerlo, New York, May 4, 2001. Golden, 18, and Diana, 17, were unconscious inside a burning car that had crashed through a wall of a garage following a roadway accident and come to rest inside the garage. McGuire, 44, carpenter, responded to the scene from a nearby house. After breaking part of a garage door to enter the building, he went to the driver’s side of the car. With flames issuing from the car at its front tires, he opened the driver’s door, grasped Golden under the arms, and dragged him from the car, then from the garage. McGuire returned inside the garage to check for any passengers. Concluding that access to the passenger side of the car was impeded at both its front and rear ends, he climbed over the car’s trunk and went to the front door on the passenger side. Opening the door to find Diana inside the smoke-filled vehicle, he picked her up and carried her to the rear of the car, where he handed her over to a man who took her from the garage to safety. McGuire then left the garage, which caught fire within minutes and was destroyed, as were the car and two other vehicles. Golden and Diana were hospitalized for treatment of multiple injuries, Diana’s including a burn to an elbow. They recovered.
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