Randal L. Cates rescued Tony F. McInelly from burning, Shelley, Idaho, June 30, 1963. Tony, 1, was alone in an enclosed porch of a frame dwelling when gasoline fumes were ignited by the pilot light of a gas dryer, causing an explosion. Randal, 14, schoolboy, who was wearing no shirt, ran to the outside door of the porch, which was filled with flames. He saw Tony, his clothing afire, lying on the floor near a doorway between the porch and the kitchen. Randal entered the dwelling through another door and ran to the kitchen doorway. He placed one foot in the porch, leaned over amid the flames, and grasped Tony’s arm but lost his hold because of the burned flesh. After stepping back briefly to beat out flames on his trouser leg, Randal again placed one foot in the porch and leaned over, keeping his head turned away from the flames. Although he suffered severe burns, he lifted Tony, stepped back into the kitchen, and carried him from the dwelling. Randal put out the flames on Tony by slapping them and by rolling him on the grass. Firemen extinguished the flames in the dwelling. Tony succumbed five days later. In three months Randal recovered from burns he had sustained on his arm, shoulders, leg, and back.
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