PITTSBURGH — A young woman from Washington state who rescued a baby from a burning home and a California college student who saved another student in a knife attack are among 25 winners of Carnegie medals for heroism.
The Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission announced the honors Tuesday for people who risked their lives while saving or attempting to save the lives of others.
Robin Adair, a 22-year-old homemaker from Port Orchard, Wash., was driving with her boyfriend when they saw a mobile home’s porch ablaze. A mother escaped with three of her children but 11-month-old Bobbi Stott was trapped in a playpen in the smoke-filled home’s master bedroom.
Adair removed a window screen and made her way through thick smoke to the playpen in the far corner of the room. She covered the baby with a blanket and, momentarily blinded by smoke, followed her boyfriend’s voice to the window and handed Bobbi outside.
Another honoree is Cameron C. Gilbert, 19, who rescued Alex R. Abrahamian, 22, who was being stabbed a student on the sidewalk of a California college campus. Gilbert stepped between the men and pushed the assailant to the ground, kicking his knife out of reach. Abrahamian was hospitalized three weeks but recovered from his injuries.
Carnegie medalists, or their heirs, receive financial grants. More than $33.7 million has been awarded to 9,477 honorees since the fund’s inception in 1904. New recipients are announced four times a year.
Steel baron Andrew Carnegie was inspired to start the fund after hearing rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people.
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