Terry M. Coats helped to rescue a man from burning, Riverside, California, April 21, 1987. A 36-year-old man lay buried by debris in the burning living room of his second-floor apartment after a massive, natural gas explosion occurred in the apartment. Coats, 24, salesman, who lived nearby, ran to the scene and up a set of exterior stairs to the apartment’s front door, which was jammed shut. Coats then entered the apartment through a window after he spotted the man inside; he went to the man and removed debris from atop him. Coats helped the man to his feet and then to the window, through which another man removed him and carried him to safety. Coats then exited the apartment through the window and was on the stairs to the ground when a burst of flames engulfed the apartment. The man was hospitalized for extensive burns, and he recovered.
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