Richard H. Wade saved a child from burning, Lockport, New York, December 13, 1996. Several tenants, including a young child, were in a three-story apartment building when fire broke out in a first-floor unit and quickly sent dense smoke into the rest of the building. Wade, 45, meter reader, was working across the street when he became aware of the fire. Responding to the scene, he learned that the child was on the second floor of the burning building. Wade immediately entered the building and, in dense smoke that precluded visibility, climbed the stairs to the second floor. He shouted to the child, who answered him, then found the child in the hall, not far from the stairs. Grasping the child to his chest, Wade returned to the front door and exited the building to safety. Wade was given oxygen at the scene, then was hospitalized overnight for treatment of smoke inhalation. He recovered.
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