Residents of Circleville and Williamsport were among four Ohioans, and 20 nationally, to receive Carnegie medals for heroism from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission.
Richard David Greeno of Williamsport and Lisa McNairy of Circleville rescued Charles C. Rhodes from burning in Circleville October 16, 2015.
The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission reports 66-year-old Rhodes, who required a cane to walk, was in the lower level of the split-level house where he lived. A disabled maintenance man of Williamsport, 40-year-old Greeno, was asleep on the upper level. A fire engulfed the attached garage at night, and Greeno was awakened to it by a next-door neighbor 50-year-old McNairy, a retail associate of Circleville, who discovered it.
Greeno exited the house through the back door but re-entered, through the front door, for Rhodes.
Dense smoke forced him out for air. After breaking a lower-level window to vent the smoke, Greeno re-entered through the front door and, crawling, advanced about 12 feet to the stairs extending to the lower level and descended them. Flames by then were entering the lower level from the garage, and heat was intense. Rhodes had crawled toward the stairs, and Greeno located him a few feet from them.
Meanwhile, McNairy had entered the house through the back door to check on its other occupants and then, responding to the front of the house, learned that Rhodes was still inside. She too entered through the front door and was repulsed by dense smoke but after repeated attempts crawled to the stairs, meeting up with Greeno and Rhodes there.
She and Greeno dragged Rhodes from the stairs to the front door and out of the house, the lower level of which was shortly engulfed by flames.
Rhodes required hospitalization, including surgery, for treatment of severe burns. McNairy was given oxygen at the scene, and she recovered.
The awards were announced Wednesday.