Thomas H. Schneider saved Eduardo G. Lemus and Jesus Z. Valdovinos from burning, Red Bluff, California, July 5, 1987. Lemus, 24, and Valdovinos, 22, were occupants of a car that crashed into a bridge abutment on an interstate highway. Flames erupted on the car’s undercarriage, and dense smoke filled its interior. Driving nearby, Schneider, 45, purchasing clerk, saw the crash. He approached the car and opened its driver’s door. Despite intense heat, heavy smoke, and increasing flames, Schneider entered the car and seized Lemus, who lay in the passenger side. Schneider pulled Lemus from the car and dragged him away, then returned to the car and again entered it. He seized Valdovinos, pulled him from the car, and dragged him away moments before the car’s interior was engulfed by flame. Schneider recovered from blistered hands.
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