Ronald Hardee saved Brandon S. Johnson from burning, Newport News, Virginia, March 3, 1993. Brandon, 1, was in a bedroom of his family’s ground-floor apartment after fire erupted in the adjoining living room. Hardee, 40, house painter, was driving past the scene when he saw smoke issuing from the apartment building. After learning that Brandon remained inside, Hardee climbed through a window into Brandon’s bedroom and crawled through dense smoke in search of him. He found Brandon on the floor, then picked him up, returned to the window, and handed him out to another man before leaving the apartment himself. Brandon was hospitalized several days for treatment of smoke inhalation, and he recovered.
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