Kevin E. Huzsek rescued Mary Ellen Fockler from burning, Somerset, Pennsylvania, March 26, 2024. Fockler, 89, was in her bedroom in the basement of her one-story house when flames broke out in an adjacent living room. Huzsek, 50, police officer, was patrolling nearby and was dispatched to the scene. Upon Huzsek’s arrival, the woman’s son, who had exited from the main floor, alerted Huzsek that Fockler was still inside. Huzsek first entered on the main floor through a side door, but upon seeing flames spreading up a stairwell from the basement, he retreated and descended an outside stairwell. Seeing a basement door there, he kicked it in and found heavy smoke inside that limited visibility. Crawling on his hands and knees beneath the smoke, he advanced a few feet and encountered a wall of flames on the outer wall of Fockler’s bedroom. Huzsek retreated through the door and approached a window to Fockler’s bedroom. Using his police baton, he broke out the window and cleared the remaining glass. Huzsek called inside for Fockler, and upon hearing her voice, climbed onto the window ledge, pushed his body head first through the opening and fell to the floor. Smoke started to clear from the room through the window and he saw Fockler, disoriented, sitting on her bed. Huzsek stood, walked to her and lifted her from the bed, and carried her back to the window and sat her on the ledge. Two other officers that responded pulled her through the opening and further to safety. Huzsek started to exit, but his duty belt became caught on the window frame. One of the officers returned to the window and aided him out through the opening to safety. Flames soon entered the room, engulfing it. Fockler was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she was treated for smoke inhalation, then was transferred to a burn trauma hospital for treatment of serious burns. She died about two months later from complications resulting from the burns. Huzsek was taken by ambulance to the hospital for treatment of cuts and smoke inhalation. He recovered.
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