| Name: | John McErlean |
| Gender: | Male |
| Agency: | Chicago Fire Department |
| Type of Firefighter: | Career |
| Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Type of Duty: | Firefighting operations, Search and rescue operations |
| Type of Award: | Medal of Valor |
| Year of Award: | 2002 |
| Incident City: | Chicago |
| Year of Incident: | 2001 |
| Incident Location Type: | Residential |
| Incident Attribute: | Fires |
Lieutenant John McErlean of the Chicago Fire Department’s Squad 1 was awarded the Medal of Valor for his actions to rescue two children from an apartment fire in Chicago, Illinois on August 6, 2001.
Squad 1 responded to a fire that was started by children playing with matches at 2310 South State St. at 9:30 in the morning. There was a report of children trapped inside the fifth floor apartment. Lieutenant McErlean entered the apartment, which was incredibly hot and filled with black smoke. He crawled toward the rear bedroom. There, he found one child on a bed and another on the floor, both unconscious. He carried both children to safety.
Citations:
“Apartment building fire kills 1-year-old boy,” The Herald News, August 7, 2001.
“Illinois Honors Her Own,” The Gong, July-September, 2002.
“1 dead, 14 hurt in South Side CHA fire,” Chicago Tribune, August 7, 2001.