Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: April 3, 1997
• Invested on: December 05, 1997

Firefighter Darrel Dean Morin, M.B.
Thomas William Taylor, M.B.
Medal of Bravery

On June 13, 1995, Darrel Morin and Thomas Taylor successfully evacuated a firefighter from a forest fire near Green Lake, Saskatchewan. Piloting a helicopter, Mr. Taylor had removed 33 crew members from the danger zone. He was attempting to rescue the last man who had become trapped in a pond surrounded by flames shooting 150 metres in the air. With no means of communicating with the stranded man, Mr. Taylor went for assistance, leaving him on top of a beaver dam. Mr. Taylor returned with Mr. Morin just as the victim fell into the water and struggled to stay afloat. While the pilot skilfully stabilized the craft to a hovering position, with the rotor blades less than a metre away from the burning tree line, Mr. Morin crawled out of the cabin area and stood on the skid. Unable to reach the victim from this position, he jumped into the water, grabbed the heavily clad man and lifted him into the helicopter. As the trio flew to safety the helicopter filled with smoke from a spark that had landed inside the cockpit, forcing an emergency landing to extinguish the flames.