Very early on the morning of 4 June 1983, Mona Jean Balcom rescued a ten-year-old girl from almost certain death. While driving to work, Mrs. Balcom saw smoke rising from the roof of a house. She stopped, ran into the house and found a mother with her daughter; as she urged them outside, the frantic mother screamed that her other four children were trapped upstairs. Thick smoke from the stairwell forced Mrs. Balcom to seek an alternative means of rescue. Outside, she seized a ladder and placed it against the east wall of the house, then climbed, smashed a window and, through the billowing smoke, shouted to the children. When onlookers said that a young girl had been seen through another window, she carried the ladder to the front of the house and again went up and smashed the window. While flames were engulfing the room, Mrs. Balcom stretched her head and shoulders through the broken window and pulled out the girl. Sadly, the other three children perished.