Lyle Berglund helped to rescue Jason M. Sorensen and Andre Kostrzewa from burning, Centerville, Utah, June 25, 2020. Sorensen, 47, and Kostrzewa, 72, were seated in the cockpit of an airplane that had crashed in a pasture and caught fire, coming to rest in an upright position. Having observed the crash while driving nearby, Berglund, 32, contactor, and his passenger, his brother, pulled over and stopped. Berglund and the brother ran about 1,000 feet to the scene and approached the right side of the cockpit, the canopy of which was missing, where Sorensen was seated. Despite flames and smoke issuing from the plane’s nose, Berglund stepped onto the wing and grasped Sorensen’s arm, then was forced to retreat because of the blistering heat. After his brother released Sorensen’s seat belt, Berglund, having returned to the wing, and his brother both grasped Sorensen by the arms and pulled him from the right side of the plane and dragged him away from the fire. Returning to the plane with his brother, who released Kostrzewa’s seat belt, Berglund, again on the right wing, helped his brother pull Kostrzewa by his arms from the right side of the plane and moved him near Sorensen. Others helped Berglund and his brother pull Sorensen and Kostrzewa further away as the grass fire spread. Kostrzewa died that afternoon, while Sorensen died at a hospital four days later. Berglund, who inhaled smoke, was treated at a hospital for burns up to second-degree on his right forearm and minor burns on his left arm and left calf. He recovered.
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