Medal of Bravery

• Awarded on: September 28, 2000
• Invested on: February 02, 2001

On the morning of July 17, 1999, off-duty Volunteer Firefighter Philip McCulla rescued a woman and her seven-year-old son following a head-on collision between two cars in Simcoe, Ontario. First at the scene, Mr. McCulla was alerted by the dazed driver of one of the vehicles that his seriously-injured wife and son were still inside their burning wreck. Seeing the flames advancing rapidly from the dashboard toward the boy, Mr. McCulla tried to reach the young victim, trapped in the front passenger seat. Unable to open the door, he hurried to the back, reached inside the smoke-filled vehicle and dragged the woman out. Despite the intense heat, he crawled back in, grabbed the boy under the arms, pulled him onto the back seat and out to safety moments before the car was fully engulfed in flames.