Kurtis VanAllyn Poole saved David L. and Larrina A. Crowder from burning, Atlanta, Georgia, October 24, 1992. David, 6, and his sister Larrina, 2, were asleep in a bedroom of their mother’s ground-level apartment when, at night, fire broke out in the kitchen. Asleep in an apartment of a building nearby, Poole, 27, was alerted to the fire. After responding to the scene and learning that the burning apartment was occupied, Poole opened the door to the living room and crawled inside, but intense heat forced him out. He then broke out a window to the children’s bedroom and climbed through. Stepping onto a bed, he located David and handed him outside to others, then turned and penetrated the room farther and located Larrina’s crib. Poole picked Larrina up but became disoriented in the dense smoke, which precluded visibility. He followed the shouts of persons at the window to retrace his course. At the window, he handed Larrina out to the others, then climbed outside to safety himself.
67269 – 7752
67269-7752