Investigating the area after hearing some popping noises during the evening of Sept. 23, 2019, Pierre Joseph Gibbons, a 57-year-old hospital facilities manager, saw his 77-year-old neighbor, Mary Sterling, inside the basement of her burning, Baltimore row house. Gibbons entered the home through its front door and, moving through thick smoke, found the basement door and descended the stairs. Gibbons found Sterling and carried her up a flight of stairs to the first floor, where heat, smoke, and flames had intensified. Grabbing a towel or blanket to shield them from the flames, Gibbons began to move Sterling toward the front door when he collapsed. Minutes later firefighters entered the first floor and removed Gibbons and Sterling, who were unconscious. Sterling was hospitalized and died about a month later from complications of her injuries. Gibbons suffered burns to more than 70 percent of his body along with inhalation injuries, underwent more than 20 surgical procedures, and suffered two strokes during his nine-month hospital stay.
90783-10179