Late in the evening of October 16, 1987, Mr. John Carlo Mangialaio rescued an unconscious woman and a semi-conscious man from inside a burning car after a highway accident near Castlegar, British Columbia. After his van was hit by a burning car, Mr. Mangialaio left his vehicle to approach the car, and, after an unsuccessful attempt to open the passenger door, he pulled the female victim through the window to safety. Since the driver's side was in flames, he reached through the passenger window again to pull out the driver, whose clothing was afire. Mr. Mangialaio brought the male victim to a safe distance and extinguished the fire from his clothes just seconds before the car was engulfed in flames.