Jose M. Pichardo

A 97-year-old woman was saved Oct. 1, 2021, from her burning home thanks to a passerby who responded. Jose M. Pichardo, a 41-year-old car salesman in Nashua, New Hampshire, was driving in a Nashua neighborhood when he saw flames issuing from the back of Shirley M. Buder’s home. Pichardo kicked down the locked, front door and crawled toward the sound of Buder’s voice, where he found her sitting in a chair in her living room. Telling her to remain in the chair, Pichardo dragged the chair to the front door and onto the home’s porch where another man assisted Pichardo in carrying Buder in the chair away from the house. Buder inhaled smoke, was hospitalized, and recovered in two days. The day after the fire, Pichardo had recovered from smoke inhalation.