Hero Fund President Eric Zahren traveled to Canada to present the Carnegie Medal for Heroism to Alan H. Mackie at a presentation held April 14 at the Grand Valley (Ontario) Fire Station. Pictured are Mackie and Zahren after the presentation.
Mackie, who attended the ceremony with his wife, Susan Mackie; daughter, Torrie Mackie; and son-in-law, Princeton Jackson, and two grandsons, Caiden and Zaiden Mackie-Jackson, was awarded the Medal in December for a burning home rescue of a 69-year-old neighbor with limited mobility.
On March 2, 2023, despite being instructed by a 911 operator to stay outside his neighbor’s burning bungalow Mackie, a 63-year-old mechanic from Grand Valley, Ontario, 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.
“Alan’s heroic and selfless example can provide larger lessons for us,” Zahren said at the presentation. “Be a good neighbor; we can (and should) be our brothers’ (and sisters’) keeper, if only in small ways; and even small acts will eventually change the world into a more peaceful place.”
“Let’s challenge ourselves to be part of that change and take care of one another while recognizing those who do so in dramatic ways like Alan and all Carnegie heroes,” Zahren added.