Medal of Bravery
Awarded on: 1997-04-03
Invested on: 1997-12-05
On January 8, 1995, Karen Kelly saved an elderly woman from a house fire in Toronto, Ontario. Hearing cries for help, Ms. Kelly raced to the burning house. Unable to enter through the front door because of the intense heat, she followed the screams to the side of the house. She pounded on a bedroom window until the pane shattered and she was momentarily forced back by a gush of thick black smoke. Undeterred, she blindly reached inside until her hand touched the victim's hair. Surrounded by flying glass and flames shooting out of exploding windows, she managed to pull the woman out and rolled her in the snow to dampen her smoldering clothes. Incapable by herself of lifting the victim over a fence that blocked their way to safety, she ran to get help from a neighbour and together they carried her to a nearby house until paramedics arrived.