Michael Dennis Smith saved Candice T. Marks from burning, Sandusky, Michigan, June 22, 1994. Candice, 3, was in a bedroom of her family’s mobile home after fire erupted in the kitchen. A neighbor, Smith, 37, self-employed, was alerted. He responded to the scene, finding that flames had broken through the roof over the kitchen. Hearing moaning in one of the bedrooms, Smith climbed through a window into that room but once inside could see nothing through the dense smoke. He penetrated the room to search for Candice, then returned to the window for air. Crawling, Smith resumed his search for Candice, brushing against her at the bedroom doorway on the opposite side of the room. She was lying on the floor, unconscious. Smith grasped Candice then retraced his course to the window, having to rely on memory since visibility was nil. At the window, Smith extended Candice outside and lowered her to the ground before climbing out of the burning structure himself. Candice was hospitalized five days for treatment of smoke inhalation, and she recovered. Smith also recovered from effects of having inhaled smoke.
68930 – 7917
68930-7917