Medal of Bravery
Awarded on: 1987-06-15
Invested on: 1987-09-25
During exceptionally cold weather on the night of February 17, 1986, a fire started at the home of Ms. Lori Blagen's sister, near Youngstown, Alberta, when fumes from a cleaning agent ignited in the basement furnace room. The sister, working in the furnace room, was engulfed by flames which set her hair and clothing afire. Her screams awoke Ms. Blagen who, running to the stairs, saw her sister on fire. Ms. Blagen, then 7 months pregnant, immediately descended and wrapped her sister in a rug to extinguish the flames. Unable to halt the fire's spread through the house, she woke up two children in a basement bedroom and led them and another child past the flames to a door leading outside. She then re-entered the smoke-filled house to remove a last sleeping child from upstairs. Using a farm-truck, she and the four children drove to the front of the house and called to her sister. She had to physically restrain her from going back inside. They drove to a neighbouring farm where they awaited the arrival of an ambulance.