Saving girls wins medal for BLM firefighter

Justin Hanley, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management firefighter employed at the Miles City Field Office, was recently awarded the Carnegie Medal for Heroism for saving two young girls from drowning in the Yellowstone River in August 2013. The presentation was held Dec. 13 in conjunction with a “Toys for Tots” event at the local Eagles Lodge. The two sisters presented the medal. The Carnegie Hero Fund Awards the Carnegie Medal to individuals in the U.S. and Canada who risk their lives to an extraordinary degree saving or attempting to save the lives of others. Some recipients are awarded the medal posthumously, having died in their rescue attempt. Hanley saved Chava L. and Shoshana L. Berry from drowning in the Yellowstone River at Miles City on Aug. 4, 2013. Sisters Chava, 14, and Shoshana, 10, were wading along the bank of the river when the current pulled them in to deeper water and carried them downstream. Hanley, who lived nearby, responded and ran several hundred feet along the bank to a point just beyond the girls. He entered the water, and the strong channel current pulled on him, but he reached the girls at a point about 250 feet from the bank. He held Chava, who was inert, with one arm and then grasped Shoshana with that hand. Using his free arm, Hanley stroked back toward the bank, the current continuing to take them downstream. Fatigued and suffering abrasions, Hanley reached the bank with the girls at a point about 700 feet downstream from where he entered the river...more