Sean Petersen 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. Driving nearby on an access road, Petersen, 45, retail manager, came upon the scene and responded to it, as did another man. 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. As the other man fought the flames with a fire extinguisher, Petersen looked for survivors and found Jonah in the back of the vehicle. When the other man broke out windows on the vehicle’s rear and rear passenger side, Petersen partially entered it through the side windows. Working with the other man, who had entered through the rear window, he lifted Jonah to the level of the windows and removed him. The other man 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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