An Indiana pizza delivery driver was honored with the Carnegie Medal for bravery and heroism after rushing into a burning home to help save the lives of five children trapped in the blaze.
Nicolas Bostic is the Indianan credited with providing life-saving measures after he spotted a house fire during a delivery this past July 11th. He reportedly parked his car and then began yelling to warn any occupants inside the burning building who might have been unaware.
Bostic said that he did not hear a reply, so then entered to make sure it was cleared out. It was at that point he discovered four children inside, leading them to safety.
“I went in through the back door and the second step of the staircase is when I saw the faces coming out and they ran past me. I followed behind and then at the back porch I asked them if there was anyone left in the house,” Bostic recounted.
Bostic then learned that a fifth child, a little girl, was still trapped inside. He returned to the burning home, battling increasingly deteriorating conditions and climbing some stairs to a second level. Eventually, despite confronting both intense heat and smoke, he was able to locate the missing girl.
Bostic had to smash a window on the second floor and escape through it. “We looked out the window and I went shoulders first through it and I landed on my right side with her on my left side,” he recalled of the effort to save both himself and the girl from the dangerous second-floor location.
On its website, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission relates Bostic’s heroic and harrowing ordeal, writing:
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A passerby on July 11 suffered from smoke inhalation, first- and second-degree burns, and a serious laceration to his arm, after jumping from a second-story window holding a 6-year-old girl to escape spreading and growing flames.
Nicholas L. Bostic, a local pizza delivery man, 25, was driving in a residential neighborhood in Lafayette, Indiana, when he saw a burning home. He entered the home through the back door, calling out to determine if anyone was inside. Hearing nothing, he went upstairs and saw an 18-year-old woman with two 13-year-old girls and a toddler, 20 months old.
Leading them outside, they told him the 6-year-old remained inside. He reentered the home and frantically searched the upstairs bedrooms as conditions worsened inside the home. As smoke filled the main level of the home, Bostic considered jumping through a window, but then heard the girl’s cries.
Following them, he returned to the main level, which was filled with smoke and blistering heat. With no visibility, he found the girl, picked her up, and retreated to the upper level. He entered a burning bedroom and punched through a window with his fist. With the girl in his arms, he jumped through to the ground. The girl suffered an injury to her leg from the broken glass, but she recovered. Bostic was hospitalized for three days, but he, too, recovered.
As of this writing, a GoFundMe had been set up for Bostic in order to help with his medical bills and recovery. The account had raised more than $650,000.