Michael B. Davis rescued Juanita G. Henderson from burning, Duncan, South Carolina, May 24, 2002. Ms. Henderson, 74, collapsed to the floor of the dining room in her one-story house after an electrical fire broke out in a bedroom and filled the house with smoke. Driving in the vicinity, Davis, 36, off-duty firefighter, was alerted to the fire by radio. He responded to the scene, where he learned that Ms. Henderson was still inside the burning house. After calling out to her and receiving a response, Davis entered the house through its kitchen door. He crawled across the kitchen and into the dining room, and, following Ms. Henderson’s voice, found her on the floor about 20 feet from the kitchen door. Davis grasped Ms. Henderson by the arms and dragged her to the kitchen door, where a neighbor helped take her into the yard. Davis returned to the house in an attempt to rescue another neighbor, who had been overcome in the bedroom while fighting the fire. Deteriorating conditions forced him out, and that neighbor died at the scene. Ms. Henderson was hospitalized two days for treatment of smoke inhalation and burns, and she recovered. Davis sustained minor burns, to the back of his neck and his arm, and smoke inhalation, for which he required oxygen. He recovered.
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