Star of Courage
Awarded on: 1987-01-12
Invested on: 1987-03-06
Firefighter Douglas Tom Basterfield, S.C.
Firefighter Jack Cameron, S.C.
Star of Courage
On October 25, 1984, Firefighters Douglas Basterfield and Jack Cameron rescued a two-year-old girl from a burning building in Etobicoke, Ontario. Wearing breathing apparatus, both firefighters, each at the time unaware of the other's identity, entered through the back door to search for the child believed to be in a bedroom off the kitchen at the rear of the building. The kitchen was completely engulfed in flames and smoke, and the heat was so intense that they had to crawl on their stomachs. As visibility was nil, they employed a sweeping search method using their hands. They searched both rooms, but it was Firefighter Cameron who, putting his hand through the bottom panel of a burnt-out door, felt the child and grabbed hold. Firefighter Basterfield had, in the meantime, located a window in the kitchen and cleared away glass exploded by the heat. He guided Firefighter Cameron, holding the unconscious child, to the window where she was handed to waiting fire department personnel. Firefighters Basterfield and Cameron then crawled out of the building the same way they had entered.