Thomas M. Harrington saved Jessica M. Stepanek from burning, Chicago, Illinois, February 4, 1985. Jessica, 1, was in her crib in a second-floor bedroom of a house in which fire broke out in the living room. Alerted to the fire by her mother’s screams, Harrington, 34, lineman, ran to the house and twice attempted entry on the ground floor only to be turned back by flames and heavy smoke. At the rear of the house, Harrington scaled a one-story room addition and crossed its roof to the window of Jessica’s bedroom. After breaking the window, he entered the smoke-filled room and, with no visibility, searched for Jessica, whom he had heard crying. He found Jessica in the crib and removed her through the window, passing her to a man on the ground who then revived her. Jessica was hospitalized for smoke inhalation, and she recovered; Harrington was treated for a cut.
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