Elena J. Keller helped to rescue Shonda D. Green from burning, Baltimore, Maryland, August 22, 1997. Shonda, 17, was unconscious on the dining room floor of a friend’s house after fire broke out in the adjacent living room. Ms. Keller, 49, program coordinator, who worked nearby, saw smoke and responded to the scene, where she found flames issuing from the front of the house. At the back of the house, Ms. Keller learned that Shonda was still inside. Approaching the back door but finding it locked, Ms. Keller and a man who had arrived by then kicked the door open. Ms. Keller and another man then entered the house and began to crawl through it. They exited because of the dense smoke, which precluded visibility. On a subsequent re-entry, the other man found Shonda and dragged her to the back door, where Ms. Keller and others helped to remove her from the house. Shonda sustained serious burns to most of her body and died three weeks later. Ms. Keller was examined at the hospital for smoke inhalation and minor injury, and she recovered.
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