Martinez, Calif., March 12, 2019 — Con Fire was honored to present the Hero Medal to Samantha Olive Barnhouse on behalf of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission at today’s Contra Costa County Fire Protection District Fire Board of Directors meeting.
Barnhouse was awarded the medal for her actions in saving the life of Lobis Burton, 78, during an apartment fire across from her own home in Antioch on Feb. 17, 2018.
According to her citation, alerted to the fire, thirty-year-old Barnhouse, who lived across the street from Burton, entered the apartment. Moving past the burning kitchen to reach Burton sitting in a wheeled desk chair in a bedroom and unable to move due to an injured hip, Barnhouse pulled the desk chair through the bedroom and into the hall as flames and smoke intensified. She moved the chair past the kitchen and to the front door, where it became stuck. Pulling on the chair to free it, Barnhouse and Burton fell through the outside door, beneath flames raging overhead.
Within moments of the rescue, the fire intensified and the apartment’s windows shattered due to the heat.
Burton was hospitalized for smoke inhalation and a broken hip, but he was not burned. Barnhouse was treated at the hospital for smoke inhalation; she recovered.
For more on the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission and medal, visit: https://www.carnegiehero.org/
