Patrick H. Egan saved Bernard K. Waugh from burning, Vernon, New York, June 16, 1999. Waugh, 58, was trapped inside the car he had been driving after an accident in which the car left the roadway, struck a utility pole, and, coming to rest upside down, caught fire. Live power lines were downed in the vicinity of the car. A passing motorist, Egan, 39, contractor, drove upon the scene after the accident and immediately responded to Waugh’s car. He unsuccessfully attempted to open the car’s passenger-side doors, then, with a metal bar he obtained from his vehicle, broke out the window to the front door on that side of the car. Despite flames four feet high on the underside of the car and entering its interior, Egan reached through the window and grasped Waugh by the shoulders. He pulled him headfirst from the car then ran to safety with him. Growing flames engulfed the car and spread to the downed lines, which began to arc. Waugh was taken to the hospital for cuts on his head and hands, from which he recovered.
73720 – 8378
73720-8378