The Carnegie Hero Fund is honored to recognize 18 civilians, including a father who died attempting to save his son from a burning home and a husband who died trying to save his wife struggling to stay afloat in the Long Island Sound. All the men and women recognized today, in acts of extraordinary heroism, risked serious injury or death to save others. This is the Hero Fund’s fourth and final award announcement for 2023.
Each individual will receive the Carnegie Medal, North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism.
Among those saved by this quarter’s Carnegie Medal recipients were ten children, including three children trapped in a burning apartment in Newport Beach, California, and three children trapped in a burning SUV in Emporia, Kansas.
The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others. With this announcement, the Carnegie Medal has been awarded to 10,405 individuals since the inception of the Pittsburgh-based Fund in 1904.
Each of the recipients or their survivors will receive a financial grant. Throughout the 119 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, nearly $45 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
The awardees are:
Marvin D. Argueta R., Flemington, New Jersey
F. Daniel Calix A., Flemington, New Jersey
Franklin G. Calix A., Flemington, New Jersey
Scott Kilburn, deceased, Waverly, Tennessee
Pedro Perez, Springfield, Massachusetts
Alan H. Mackie, Grand Valley, Ontario
Benjamin Ramsay, Seattle
Fairuz Jane Schlecht, Newport Beach, California
Tu Anh Tran, Lincoln, Nebraska
Thomas Lee Hawk, deceased, Bostwick, Georgia
Judy Arroyo, Long Beach, New York
Ryan Pasborg, Rock Springs, Wyoming
Thomas Elbrecht, South Salt Lake, Utah
Sean L. James, Fate, Texas
Adem Qorri, deceased, New Port Richey, Florida
John Chase, Denver
Heath Martin, Springboro, Ohio
Mauricio Rodas-García, deceased, Norwalk, Connecticut
To nominate someone for the Carnegie Medal, complete a nomination form online or write to the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, 436 Seventh Ave., Suite 1101, Pittsburgh, PA 15219. More information on the Carnegie Medal and the history of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission can be found at carnegiehero.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Marvin D. Argueta R., F. Daniel Calix A., and Franklin G. Calix A.
Daniel Calix A., a 23-year-old roofer, was returning home Nov. 22, 2021, to his Flemington, New Jersey, apartment when he saw flames through the living room window of his 59-year-old neighbor, who used bottled oxygen. He called for his brothers, 35-year-old Marvin D. Argueta R., a landscaper, and 29-year-old Franklin G. Calix A., a carpenter. Together, they ascended a stairway to the second-floor apartment, kicked down the man’s front door, and tried to enter the apartment, but thick, black smoke made entry nearly impossible. Using his cell phone’s flashlight, Argueta stood at the doorway where he heard the man calling for help. Argueta entered the apartment, bear-hugged the man and dragged him toward the front door, 8 feet away. His brothers also responded, also helping to carry the man. Together, they carried him down the stairs. At one point an explosion caused intensifying flames to burn Argueta’s ear and face and blew a chair into their path to safety. Daniel threw the chair out of the way, and they continued carrying the man to an outside porch. Argueta was treated at a hospital for his burns and smoke inhalation; he recovered. Daniel and Franklin inhaled smoke, but weren’t treated. They, too, recovered.
Scott Kilburn, deceased
Scott Kilburn, a 49-year-old metal fabricator of Waverly, Tennessee, and his wife were stranded on the roof of his pickup truck during heavy flooding in Waverly on Aug. 21, 2021. Rapidly rising flood water had risen above the truck’s hood and continuously washed debris forcefully against the truck. A woman, 53-year-old Regenia L. Brake, had been attempting to evacuate with her son, when she was swept up in the flood and carried about a half-mile before she neared Kilburn’s truck. Kilburn removed his shirt, left the truck’s roof, and entered the water. He reached Brake, but the two were carried away from the truck and eventually separated. Kilburn’s wife soon lost sight of them, but held tightly to the truck while flood water continued to rise and surge. She remained on the roof for about three hours until she could be rescued. Brake and Kilburn drowned. Brake’s body was recovered about 1,000 feet from the truck. Kilburn’s body was found more than a mile away.
Pedro Perez
A 39-year-old police officer gave chase to apprehend a man who had just robbed a Springfield, Massachusetts, store at knifepoint on Dec. 27, 2022. As she reached the man, he resisted arrest, brandishing the knife, and the two struggled. Pedro Perez, 31, a real estate entrepreneur of Springfield, was driving nearby and saw the skirmish. Intervening in the altercation, he pushed them out of the street, which caused the assailant to drop the knife. All three fell to the ground, where the assailant grabbed the officer’s pistol and removed it from its holster. Perez and the officer were attempting to disarm him when he fired two shots. One bullet struck the assailant’s hand and caused a serious injury before it went through the hood of Perez’s sweatshirt. The other shot hit Perez’s nearby truck. With the assistance of an arriving police lieutenant, the pistol was taken from the assailant and he was handcuffed. The officer sustained a back injury during the incident, and Perez had sustained bruised ribs but recovered.
Alan H. Mackie
Despite being instructed by a 911 operator to stay outside his next-door neighbor’s burning bungalow on March 2, Alan H. Mackie, a 63-year-old mechanic from Grand Valley, Ontario, knew his 69-year-old neighbor had limited mobility and worried he needed help leaving his home. Mackie kicked open the front door and entered the house despite dense smoke that limited visibility and flames that stretched from the floor to the ceiling. Crouched over under the smoke, Mackie called out for the man and walked toward his faint responses. He reached the man’s bedroom at a point about 25 feet inside and saw him standing at the foot of his bed. Mackie retrieved a walker from the living room and returned to the bedroom, where he turned the man to face away from the walker and sat him on the walker’s seat. Mackie grasped the metal bars of the walker and backed to the front door pulling the walker with him. As Mackie exited the house, he came within a couple feet of flames. The man was treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation. Mackie was not injured.
Benjamin Ramsay
A teenaged boy was swimming in Seattle’s Green Lake on April 21, 2021, when he submerged and did not resurface at a point about 80 feet from shore. His friend shouted for help. A 24-year-old tutor, Benjamin Ramsay, of Seattle, was on a paddleboard nearby and heard the shouts. Despite no visibility beneath the water’s surface and Ramsay’s poor swimming ability, upon seeing bubbles rising to the surface, Ramsay dove 15 feet to the bottom where he located the boy and grasped his arm. When Ramsay successfully pulled the boy to the surface, his paddleboard was no longer within reach. Ramsay positioned the unresponsive boy against his chest and backstroked toward shore. Ramsay was tiring quickly and he struggled to keep both their heads above water. A female paddleboarder nearby responded to them at a point halfway to shore. Ramsay grasped onto the board with one arm while still holding the boy. The woman leaned across her paddleboard and kicked until she reached shallow water while holding onto Ramsay and the boy. The boy expelled water during efforts to revive him and recovered after treatment at a hospital. Ramsay was cold and fatigued, but he did not require medical attention.
Fairuz Jane Schlecht
Flames broke out on the first floor of a two-story, Newport Beach, California, apartment on Dec. 20, 2022. Three children, ages 9, 6, and 5, were inside a bedroom on the second-floor as flames grew and spread to the second floor. Car designer Fairuz Jane Schlecht, 51, who lived in a neighboring apartment, had already escaped the burning building when she learned that the three children were still inside. Despite wearing little clothing, Schlecht ran up a stairway to her apartment where she accessed the neighboring apartment through a set of service doors. She ran down a hallway filled with swirling smoke and loud, high-pitched noises inside. She kicked in the children’s bedroom door and gathered the children. Schlecht ran back down the hall and pushed the older girl through the service doors to her apartment. The younger girl ran into the flame-filled primary bedroom, and Schlecht entered the room after her as she held onto the boy. The girl ran back to her, and Schlecht exited with the children through her apartment. The youngest children recovered after inhaling smoke. The 9-year-old girl suffered reduced oxygen levels and minor burns to her feet but recovered. Schlecht inhaled smoke and suffered a loss of hearing in her right ear but was not burned.
Tu Anh Tran
A 27-year-old woman was trapped inside her submerged sedan that slid off an icy road into a golf course pond in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Feb. 22, 2023. Lincoln police Sgt. Tu Anh Tran, 36, responded to the accident and, despite below-freezing air temperatures, entered the frigid water. He reached the vehicle, which was submerged up to the trunk and opened the rear, driver’s-side door. Items from the vehicle bobbed out of the car, obscuring Tran’s vision. He dipped his face beneath the water’s surface, but the murky water also limited visibility. Tran reached inside the car blindly and felt the woman’s legs. Feeling his touch, the woman resurfaced and grabbed his arms. Holding to her arm, Tran pulled her free from the vehicle that submerged seconds later. Tran towed the woman toward the bank. Others assisted them both to safety when they reached wadable water. The woman was cold and taken to a hospital; she recovered. Tran was cold and nearly exhausted, but did not seek treatment; he recovered.
Thomas Lee Hawk, deceased
A father attempting to save his 13-year-old son from a house fire died Dec. 16, 2022. Flames broke out in the attic of their one-story, Bostwick, Georgia, home and spread throughout the residence. Eric T. Hawk, 13, saw smoke entering his bedroom and opened the door to a smoke-filled hallway. He closed the door and called his father, Thomas Lee Hawk, a 39-year-old quality control supervisor, who was next door at Eric’s grandfather’s home. Hawk immediately ran into the burning home, with the grandfather following behind. As conditions worsened inside, the grandfather could not enter the home, but from the outside, heard Eric shouting for help from his bedroom. He went to Eric’s window, removed an air conditioner, and pulled Eric through the opening. He dragged him away from the home. Eric suffered severe smoke inhalation and was hospitalized for a few days. Hawk’s body was found in the hallway near Eric’s bedroom. He sustained burns to his body and died from inhaling smoke and soot.
Judy Arroyo
A fire broke out on the rear deck of Stephen Pryke’s two-story home on Feb. 19, 2023, in Long Beach, New York. Pryke, 65, was in his bedroom when he was awakened and searched the house for his son and a tenant that lived with them. A passerby flagged down on-duty police officer Judy Arroyo, 51. As she approached the house, flames had completely consumed the rear portion. She entered through the unlocked front door to see flames burning on the kitchen ceiling. She located Pryke, gripped his arm, and forcefully ushered him outside. After hearing that others may be inside the home, Arroyo returned to the house, where flames had overtaken the kitchen. Through black smoke, Arroyo climbed a few stairs toward the second floor when she felt a burst of heat. She suffered burns to her face and both hands. She escaped back through the front door as the fire continued to spread. The son and tenant were later located outside the home. Pryke suffered no burns and declined to go to a hospital. Arroyo was treated at a hospital and later at a burn center. She mostly recovered from her burns in about three weeks.
Ryan Pasborg
A mother, 34, and her son, 4, had fallen unconscious inside the kitchen of their burning home on Feb. 2, 2022, in Green River, Wyoming. Ryan Pasborg, a 33-year-old derrickhand of Rock Springs, Wyoming, was driving to work when he smelled smoke and noticed flames from the house’s front windows. Three other siblings had escaped and alerted Pasborg that their brother and mother were inside. Pasborg entered the home and ascended steps to the kitchen, where intense smoke forced him to his hands and knees. He crawled farther into the house and came upon the boy. Hugging the boy with one arm and still crawling, he retreated until he could stand and eventually carried the boy through the garage to safety. Pasborg instructed the children to seek refuge inside his work truck before he reentered the home to look for their mother. Crawling again through the kitchen despite intense flames, heat, and smoke, Pasborg searched until he found her. He grasped her under the arms and dragged her from the home to safety. Pasborg performed CPR on the woman before driving her and the children to first responders at the end of their long driveway. The boy later recovered from burns to his arms and legs. The mother suffered burns to more than 60 percent of her body but recovered. Pasborg inhaled smoke but did not seek medical treatment.
Thomas Elbrecht
While backcountry skiing on Dec. 14, 2022, in a remote area of the Wasatch Mountain Range in Millcreek, Utah, Travis Haussener, 35, was caught in a 200-foot wide, 2-foot deep avalanche that surged downhill and enveloped him. The snow slammed him against a tree where he was pinned with severe injuries. Only his head and an arm remained unburied. He shouted for help. Within earshot while backcountry skiing himself, firefighter Thomas Elbrecht, 31, of South Salt Lake, Utah, heard Haussener’s calls. He followed Haussener’s tracks in the snow to the bottom of the avalanche-debris pile, where he then hiked up the steep slope and unburied Haussener, who had a broken thighbone among other severe injuries that inhibited him from moving to safety. Elbrecht used his cell phone to inform authorities about Haussener’s injuries after he moved him to a flat area nearby. He used a ski pole as a makeshift splint to stabilize Haussener’s leg and built a small shelter to shield him from the frigid conditions. He removed some of Haussener’s wet clothes and provided him with dry clothes including an extra jacket Haussener had in his backpack and Elbrecht’s own jacket and gloves. With the threat of another avalanche looming, Elbrecht remained with Haussener as rescue crews came up with a plan. A rescue helicopter responded but was unable to affect a rescue because of the steep slope and closely packed, tall trees. Eventually, two rescue personnel on the ground found them. Elbrecht helped lower Haussener to a spot where he was moved by toboggan and then snowmobile to a waiting ambulance. Haussener spent a few days in the hospital and endured a lengthy rehabilitation to his leg. Elbrecht was cold and hungry after spending several hours with Haussener, even beyond sunset, but was not injured.
Sean L. James
Three children were trapped inside a SUV after a June 6, 2022, accident in Emporia, Kansas. Madilyn McNack, 6, and her brothers, Jaseh McNack, 2, and Alexander Wilson-McNack, 8, were in the vehicle with their mother when the SUV veered off an interstate highway and struck a tree. Their mother was pinned between the steering wheel and her seat. Fate, Texas, oil and gas inspector, Sean L. James, 47, was driving ahead of the SUV when he saw the accident in his rearview mirror. Tree branches prevented him from opening the driver’s door and when he attempted to open a rear door, the handle came off. From inside the car, Madilyn unlocked a door, and James leaned into the vehicle amid smoke and pulled her out. He carried her to safety and returned to the vehicle. He fully entered the car and crawled across the back seat to Jaseh. At this point, flames had spread across the dashboard and passenger compartment. Although James struggled with removing Jaseh from his car seat, with Jaseh’s helped he unbuckled it, held Jaseh to him, and retreated from the vehicle, placing him near Madilyn. James returned to the car a third time for Alexander and crawled again into the vehicle as smoke obscured his view. The mother informed him Alexander was in the vehicle’s rear cargo area. James’ hand brushed against Alexander when he reached over the rear seat, and he pulled him to him. James carried Alexander to safety as the car was engulfed in flames. The children’s mother died. A highway patrol officer determined she was trapped in the vehicle and could not be rescued given the intensity and extent of the flames by the time her children had been rescued. Madilyn suffered partial paralysis as a result of the crash. Jaseh suffered a broken left collarbone and Alexander suffered a laceration on his face. Both boys recovered. James suffered smoke inhalation but recovered.
Adem Qorri, deceased
On March 26, 2023, in Tarpon Springs, Florida, Carson Furness, 6, and his 10-year-old brother were caught in a fast moving current while swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. Anchored near the southern tip of Anclote Island, auto mechanic Adem Qorri, 39, of New Port Richey, Florida, was with the boys’ father when he saw them drift into water 10 feet deep. Qorri jumped off the boat, ran approximately 90 feet across shallow water and sand created by low tide, and then swam 225 feet to Carson. The boys’ father followed Qorri until he reached Carson’s brother at a point about 150 feet from shore. After swimming Carson’s brother to safer water and calming him, the father saw Qorri facedown in the water with Carson hanging onto his back. A tour boat pulled up next to them and the captain lifted Carson onto the boat. The tour boat captain was unable to pull Qorri aboard and jumped into the water to support him and keep his head above the surface of the water. A speed boat arrived, and both boat captains pulled Qorri aboard. They started chest compressions as they began the 3-mile journey to the closest boat ramp. Carson and his brother were not injured. Qorri was immediately put into an ambulance and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He had drowned.
John Chase
Joseph Radtke, 80, had gone fishing with his dog on July 17, 2023, in Vail, Colorado. As he tried to cross Gore Creek at a shallow point his dog pulled away from him. Radtke fell to his knees where the current swept him into rapids. The creek carried him downstream headfirst with his face down, striking numerous rocks that rendered him unconscious. A 53-year-old attorney of Denver, John Chase, was biking nearby with his wife and saw Radtke swept downstream. He jumped onto his bike and pedaled 600 feet on the path to a gap in a high fence to get ahead of Radtke. He slid down the steep embankment to the 56-degree water and waded out to a rock in the middle of the creek. Chase jumped into the water to intercept the unconscious Radtke and grasped him with one arm as he paddled with the other. The two men were swept downstream about 225 feet until Chase gained enough of a foothold in an area of calm, shallow water. He maneuvered Radtke to the shore with the help of a bystander. Chase performed CPR on the unresponsive Radtke until first responders took over and revived him. Radtke was hospitalized for six days but made a full recovery. Chase was bruised but recovered.
Heath Martin
On June 23, 2023, 36-year-old Joshua Unglesby, who is paralyzed from the waist down, was asleep in the rear bedroom of his one-story home in Springboro, Ohio, when a fire broke out. Awakening, he called 911 and scrambled onto the floor at the back of the room as flames spread. On-duty police officer Heath Martin, 47, was nearby and responded to the call. He entered the smoke-filled house through the garage and called out for Unglesby, who was still in the back bedroom. Martin ran 25 feet down a long hallway to the bedroom and threw the door open. Thick, black smoke issued through the doorway making it difficult for Martin to breathe. He heard Unglesby but told him he could not reach him because of the smoke. Martin retreated and ran to the home’s front door, which he opened for responding firefighters. He then returned to the bedroom, went to his knees and crawled inside. Surrounded by flames, he found Unglesby in the back corner of the room and picked him up in a bear hug. As he attempted to exit carrying Unglesby, he tripped and the two fell. Martin then held Unglesby under his arms and dragged him to the front door. Unglesby suffered second-degree burns and continues to recover. Martin suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation but recovered.
Mauricio Rodas-García, deceased
Martha Gonzalez, 58, was wading in the Long Island Sound off of Norwalk, Connecticut, on July 31, 2022, when she lost her footing and struggled to swim amid a strong outgoing tidal current. Her husband, Mauricio Rodas-García, a 60-year-old Norwalk jeweler, was on shore when he saw her signal for help. Despite being unable to swim, Rodas-García entered the water, wading 15 feet and stretching his arm out to Gonzalez before he, too, lost his footing. He attempted to swim toward Gonzalez but ultimately submerged. A nearby sailing school employee entered the water and a bystander atop a paddleboard both made their way to Gonzalez. A third bystander helped them to the shore where emergency personnel responded and received Gonzalez. She was unharmed. Rodas-García was unresponsive on the surface of the water when he was located by bystanders moments later. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He had drowned.