Two N.C. men receive Carnegie Heroes Fund medals

Brandon Rothrock, 25, of Ellenboro, and Joshua A. Bumgarner, 23, of Bostic, rescued an 80-year-old woman from a fire in her home in Forest City on March 19.

Other honorees include Rolando Campuzano Sr., 26, who escaped from the fire Jan. 14 in Warm Springs, Ore., but resisted police attempts to keep him outside after learning his 4-year-old son, Rolando Jr., was still inside. Father and son both died of smoke inhalation.

Seventeen-year-old Timothy Haas, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, was the only other person honored Tuesday who died during a rescue attempt.

Pittsburgh steel baron Andrew Carnegie started the fund in 1904 after hearing rescue stories from a mine disaster that killed 181 people. Since then, $32 million has been awarded to 9,327 people. Medalists, or their heirs, receive $6,000.