Stephen Harder

Stephen Harder rescued a woman from burning, Quincy, Washington, January 10, 2023. Around 2 a.m., the woman, 67, who suffered from long-term illnesses, was unresponsive on the kitchen floor in her one-story house as a fire burned in the living room, where there were some oxygen cylinders. Her daughter, who retreated outside the house and called 911, told a dispatcher her mother remained inside. Responding before firefighters were Harder, 38, an on-duty police officer, and a police detective, who saw smoke outside the house. After Harder, a former volunteer firefighter, opened the front door and saw flames in the living room, he and the detective went to the rear door, which Harder, too, opened. With smoke stretching from the ceiling to about 18 inches off the floor, Harder crawled along the narrow hallway with his flashlight on, followed by the detective, also crawling. Harder then turned into the dark kitchen, where he found the woman, not moving, on the ground with the flames about 10 feet away. As Harder grasped the woman and crawled dragging her, backing himself along the floor to the hallway, the detective stood and, overcome by the smoke, returned to the rear porch for fresh air. Harder then got into a crouching stance and pulled the woman to the doorway, where the detective helped Harder carry her to the backyard and both then began CPR. The woman, who inhaled smoke, began breathing again and was taken to a hospital for treatment. Harder and the detective, both of whom also inhaled smoke, were medically cleared at a hospital following exposure to smoke.