Star of Courage

• Awarded on: February 6, 1989
• Invested on: June 02, 1989

Workers were repairing a boiler at a pulp mill in Hinton, Alberta, on April 15, 1986, when one of the workers passed out from carbon monoxide fumes. The victim was lying on a narrow piece of scaffolding at the fifth floor level inside the boiler, approximately 20 metres from the ground. While one co-worker positioned an air hose to blow fresh air in the direction of the unconscious man, another ran in search of an air pack. Lou Basso immediately decided to risk entering the poisoned atmosphere to rescue the man. He donned an air pack, but realizing that the air bottle would not fit on him as he crawled through the manway into the boiler, held it in his hands while he crept toward the victim. Grabbing the fallen man by the ankles, Mr. Basso dragged him carefully backwards along the narrow ledge to the manway, aware that the slightest movement to the side would send them both plunging to their deaths. The weight of his dangling air bottle also kept breaking the seal on his mask, exposing him to the contaminated air. He finally reached the manway where others pulled the victim through.