Douglas William Gibson, S.C.
Star of Courage
In the small hours of the morning of 5 August 1982, Douglas Gibson of Victoria, British Columbia, rescued a woman and her two young children from a burning house. While driving his taxi to a downtown location, Mr. Gibson saw flames in the living-room of a two-story house, summoned the Fire Department by radioing the dispatcher, then hurried to the scene of the fire. On hearing that two-year-old Christopher Hughes was in his bedroom, located just above the fire, Mr. Gibson entered the burning house. As flames were spreading from the living-room walls to the adjoining stairwell leading to the second floor, he rushed upstairs and found the mother on the landing, a baby in her arms. The frantic woman had been unable to find her son. Guided only by the cries coming from the bedroom, Mr. Gibson went into the boy's room and seized him, although the bedroom floor, burning on the underside, could well have collapsed under his weight. Holding the boy in his arms, the rescuer led the mother and her other child through dense smoke and intense heat to safety, moments before the fire made escape impossible. There is no doubt that his selfless courage and quick action averted a tragedy.