Two who saved people in city fire rewarded

By ZACH SUBAR/The Leader-Herald

GLOVERSVILLE - Two men who saved people from a 2007 city house fire now have more to show for their actions than stories of their bravery.

James Carpenter, a city resident, and Leanue Davis, a former resident who now lives in Fayetteville, N.C., were awarded Carnegie Medals - with $5,000 prizes - for their actions during a Nov. 8, 2007, fire at 91 Third St.

"I thought my gesture was something that anybody would have done," said Davis. "I had no idea that people looked at what I did as something heroic."

Carpenter, who lived at 89 Third St., responded to cries for help from his next-door neighbor, Sandra Vasquez, after a fire had started in her home. He entered the burning house and grabbed one of her two grandchildren who was trapped upstairs, afraid to descend the burning steps.

Davis, who lived at the house, returned home from work to find it burning. After Carpenter crawled out of the home holding one of the children, Davis ran upstairs to find Vasquez's other granddaughter.

Unable to escape down the stairs because of the flames, Davis dropped the girl out of a second-story window to construction workers below and then jumped from the building himself. He received minor injuries.

Firefighters arrived at the scene soon afterward.

Gloversville Fire Chief Douglas Edwards said the men's actions were unusually heroic.

"It's one of those that everything fell into place," he said. "People were at the right place at the right time."

Davis and Carpenter, as neighbors, had argued over their pets in the past, but Davis said the two were temporarily on good terms after the fire. They later got into a dispute over a car owned by Davis that Carpenter allegedly damaged.

Davis and Vasquez rented a house on Prospect Street after the fire, and they were planning to buy a house in the city, but Vasquez claimed that because she is Hispanic and Davis is black, the homeowner was reticent to sell to them.

The two moved to Fayetteville, where Davis now operates a lawn-care business and Vasquez is unemployed.

She said her nerves have not been the same since the fire, and she often is affected by depression.

"A lot of people got awards," she said. "I was like, he [Davis] deserved it more than anybody. He was stuck in the fire."

Davis said he lost antiques in the fire, and the two lost a variety of other goods.

"Financially, we could use the $5,000. I don't think that we'll ever get what we had back," Davis said. "But in other areas, emotionally and spiritually, we've grown."

Last month, before the medals were given, Davis and Vasquez came to Gloversville to visit Vasquez's grandchildren, who still live in the city with their parents. Davis said he was taking his dog for a walk when he bumped into Carpenter at Main and Pine streets.

They talked, and the two are now again on good terms, Davis said.

"I praised him," said Davis. "He did the same thing I did. He ran into a burning building, and that was from his heart."

Carpenter could not be reached for comment.

The two men were selected for medals by the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission's 21-member board in December.

The award is given to civilians nationwide who, according to the commission's Web site, "risk their lives to an extraordinary degree saving or attempting to save the lives of others."

The commission was established in 1904, and it has given more than 8,000 medals and $30 million in grants.

Each award winner receives $5,000 and a bronze medal that features a profile of the commission's founder, Andrew Carnegie.

Carnegie Hero Fund Commission Director of External Affairs Douglas Chambers said the commission gives roughly 100 medals each year on four separate occasions.

"Many times, they're surprised that they've been awarded the Carnegie Medal," he said of award recipients. "What they did was an altruistic act. They acted at the time spontaneously, and most of them think nothing of it."