Timothy Charles rescued Helen L. Lashinski from burning, Scranton, Pennsylvania, August 3, 2007. Lashinski, 81, was on the second floor of her two-story house after fire broke out at night in the kitchen, on the first floor, and engulfed it. On duty, Charles, 28, was one of three police officers who responded to the scene before firefighters. They gained access to the house through its front door and, hearing Lashinski call for help, entered, but intense heat and dense smoke forced them out. Charles re-entered and, his eyes closed against the heat, crawled through an entry to the foot of the stairway, which was adjacent to the kitchen. He climbed the stairs and found Lashinski on a step near the top. He grasped her about the chest and carried her downstairs and to the front door as flames spread from the kitchen doorway to the stairwell. Lashinski was hospitalized for treatment of smoke inhalation and burns, and she recovered. Charles inhaled smoke, and he too recovered.
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