| Name: | Edward Clafford |
| Gender: | Male |
| Agency: | Chicago Fire Department |
| Type of Firefighter: | Career |
| Rank: | Firefighter |
| Type of Duty: | Firefighting operations, SCBA operations, Search and rescue operations |
| Type of Award: | Medal of Honor |
| Year of Award: | 1997 |
| Incident City: | Chicago |
| Year of Incident: | 1995 |
| Incident Location Type: | Residential |
| Incident Attribute: | Fires |
Firefighter Edward Clafford of Truck 35 of the Chicago Fire Department was awarded the Medal of Honor for his efforts to save three people from a residential fire in Chicago, Illinois on December 4, 1995.
Chicago Fire Department Truck 35, with Firefighter Clafford on board, responded to the fire at 11:20AM, and the unit arrived to find a two-story frame building with heavy smoke showing on both floors and flames coming out of a first floor window. Clafford donned his self-contained breathing apparatus and entered the building to conduct a primary search for victims, accompanied by Lt. Dosenbach. Both firefighters immediately encountered high heat and heavy smoke inside the structure. In the first floor hallway, they found an unconscious mother and a small baby. Dosenbach carried the baby outside and began CPR while Clafford carried the woman to safety, where firefighters on scene administered emergency medical care.
Clafford then reentered the building and located another unconscious victim further down the first floor hallway. He carried the elderly woman out of the building to safety. With the building now nearly inaccessible due to smoke and flames, Clafford reentered the structure once more to conduct another search for victims. After a thorough search, Clafford found an unconscious eleven-year-old boy and carried him to safety. He administered CPR on the boy until he was relieved by on scene emergency medical personnel.
Citations:Heroes among us,
AFFI Tailboard Talk, August, 1997.
1996 Firehouse Magazine Heroism & Community Service Awards
, Firehouse, April, 1997.