Robert P. Davies helped to save Charlotte Sowards from burning, Golden Valley, Arizona, December 21, 2012. Sowards, 92, was in the bedroom at one end of her mobile home after fire broke out in the living room, at the other end. Flames spread quickly and filled the house with dense smoke. From his home a half-mile away, Davies, 48, contractor, saw smoke, and he responded to the scene, where he learned that Sowards was trapped. He climbed a stepladder to one of the bedroom’s windows and, despite dense smoke in the room, entered. Sowards was standing at the window, and Davies grasped her to support her there so that she could breathe. The fire chief, who had responded about then, also entered the room, and he and Davies made repeated attempts to lift Sowards to the window but were unsuccessful. With flames starting to breach the bedroom through its door, Davies and the chief took Sowards to another window in that room, but again they failed in their efforts to lift her. The chief then braced his shoulder beneath her, and as Davies lifted her by an arm, the men boosted her to the window and maneuvered her head first through it, to others outside the house who lowered her to the ground. The chief then aided Davies through the window and exited to safety himself. Flames soon engulfed the bedroom. Sowards required hospital treatment, as did the chief, for smoke inhalation. Davies also sustained smoke inhalation and was treated at the scene.
85416 – 9640
85416-9640