JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 14-year-old boy who pulled a 6-year-old girl from a burning mobile home in Oceanway last summer was awarded a medal Tuesday by the Carnegie Hero Fund.
Robert A. Pritchard Jr. entered the burning home in his neighborhood on June 17, 2014, and found Hattie Fowler in a bedroom. She had attracted his attention as he was riding his bicycle by the house.
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According to the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, Robert entered the front door but couldn't see anything due to heavy smoke in the house. Hearing Hattie cry, he made his way to the bedroom door and called to her. She ran into his arms. He picked her up and, carrying her, retraced his steps to the front door and got out safely.
"Right when I got outside she said, 'My brothers and sisters are in there,'" Robert told News4Jax at the time. "By the time I got outside the whole house was on fire."
Robert said he ran home and told his father, who called 911.
Hattie's grandmother and three of her siblings died in the fire. Hattie was hospitalized and treated for smoke inhalation. Robert was checked at the scene by paramedics for minor smoke inhalation, but did not require treatment.
Robert was among 18 people awarded with medals Tuesday for "acts of extraordinary civilian heroism" by the fund established 111 years ago by Andrew Carnegie.