On September 6, 1999, Wayne MacDonald of the Cape Breton Regional Police rescued a man from a burning building in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia. While on patrol, Cst. MacDonald noticed smoke pouring out of a two-storey building. Informed that a man was on the upper floor, he raced to the man's apartment. Aware that opening the door would feed oxygen to the fire, but determined to reach the victim as quickly as possible, he lay down and pushed the door open, releasing a thick black cloud. In zero visibility, he then crawled inside until he was forced out because of smoke inhalation. Undeterred, Cst. MacDonald went back upstairs, located the disoriented man who refused to leave and forcibly dragged him to safety. Exhausted and gasping for air, he then went back to search for another man wrongly believed to be in the apartment.
Medal of Bravery
Awarded on: 2007-06-21
Invested on: 2008-02-29
Constable Darren Wayne Barrington, M.B.
Constable Melbourne James Birmingham, M.B.*
Acting Sergeant Wayne MacDonald, M.B.*
Medal of Bravery
On October 29, 2004, Cape Breton Regional Police constables Darren Barrington and Mel Birmingham, and acting Sergeant Wayne MacDonald entered a burning home to rescue an octogenarian, in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia. Unable to cross the wall of flames that blocked the front entrance, the rescuers raced around the house and broke through the rear door. Crawling on their hands and knees, constables Barrington and Birmingham located the victim lying on the kitchen floor, a few metres from their entry point. While the officers grabbed the victim by the arms, acting Sergeant MacDonald pulled them by their belts and guided them outside to safety. Both victim and rescuers suffered from severe smoke inhalation that required medical attention.
* This is the second award of a Medal of Bravery for both Constable Birmingham and acting Sergeant MacDonald.