Brave northerners were honoured by the nation on Friday for their acts of courage.
Prince George was home to two of the incidents being cited by His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada.
In one of the local incidents Ratko Ray Djuric and Barry Ryder Nilsen spared a neighbour from death in a fire at at Bear Lake on Aug. 26, 2008.
"Mr. Djuric was leaving for work early in the morning when he saw flames coming from his neighbour's basement," said Marie-Pierre Belanger, spokesperson for Rideau Hall. "He ran to her house and could hear her inside but was unable to see due to the dense, toxic smoke. Mr. Djuric held his breath and crawled inside to find her in the hallway. He grabbed her by the ankle and started pulling her towards the door, but had to rush outside to catch his breath.
"Mr. Nilsen then arrived and made his way to the unconscious victim, pulling her another short distance. With Mr. Djuric's help, he managed to drag her outside. The men then alerted other neighbours of the present danger. Because of their brave actions, the severely burned victim survived."
In the other incident from our local area, two vehicles collided near Raven Lake on Oct. 13, 2007, killing five in one and catching the other on fire with two people inside.
Williams Lake residents Kingsley Cheung and Justin Ilnicki joined Langley/Squamish resident Kevin Leski in getting the survivors free of the flames.
"Despite the intense heat and the threat of an explosion from the propane tanks in the truck's camper, the rescuers were able to pull the severely injured woman out [after pulling the driver free first]," said Belanger. They also got word to paramedics and sheltered the victims until help arrived.
Other brave northerners
RCMP Const. Shane Douglas Nicoll of Terrace received the Medal of Bravery, along with three others for their attempts to rescue an elderly man from a vehicle submerged in the Millstone River in Nanaimo on Jan. 15, 2008. Nicoll was off-duty, but swam out with a knife to cut the victim loose. In spite of their efforts in the freezing water, the victim did not survive.
Helicopter pilot Dale Brady (of Valemount) and rescue technician Steve Blake (of Jasper) made a heroic flight in poor weather to pluck two mountain climbers free of peril on Mt. Robson in June, 2008. The climbers had been stuck on the peak east of Prince George for nearly three weeks before rescue came.
