Michael Homeier helped to rescue Jonah C. Turner from burning, Ellsworth, Kansas, May 28, 2013. Badly injured, Jonah, 9, lay in the back of a sport utility vehicle after an interstate highway accident in which the vehicle struck the rear of a tractor-trailer parked on the shoulder. Working on his farm nearby, Homeier, 37, farmer, heard the accident and went to the scene. By then the vehicle had caught fire at its front end, which was under the rear of the trailer, and flames were entering the passenger compartment and rapidly progressing. Homeier fought the flames with a fire extinguisher, and, after another man who responded found Jonah in the back of the vehicle, he broke out its rear and rear passenger-side windows with the extinguisher. Homeier entered the vehicle through the rear window as the other man entered partially through the side windows. Together they lifted Jonah to the level of the windows for removal by the other man. Homeier then withdrew from the vehicle, flames growing quickly to engulf it. Jonah required hospitalization for treatment of his injuries. Four members of his family died in the accident.
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