Daniel G. R. Livingston helped to save Jessy B. Vandergriendt from burning, Courtenay, British Columbia, April 2, 2010. Unconscious, Vandergriendt, 22, remained secured by a safety belt to his seat in a sport utility vehicle that crashed and overturned in a highway accident at night. Flames broke out in the engine area and began to spread. Visiting at a friend’s house nearby, Livingston, 22, paving laborer, was alerted to the accident, and he and others responded to the scene. Livingston opened one of the vehicle’s doors, partially entered, and found that Vandergriendt was restrained by the belt. He exited the vehicle and obtained a pair of scissors and a knife that one of the others had taken to the scene. Livingston re-entered and cut the safety belt as flames broke through the firewall and into the interior of the vehicle. He grasped Vandergriendt and dragged him from the vehicle and then was aided in taking him farther away. The vehicle was shortly engulfed by flames. Vandergriendt required extensive hospitalization for treatment of serious injuries, but he was not burned.
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