A Shelter Island man was recognized for selfless valor by the San Diego Burn Institute (SDBI) on Thursday, May 22 for his efforts in saving the lives of a disabled woman and two small children ” one of them an infant ” during an apartment fire in December near Rosecrans Street.
Jim Grant, 52, a general contractor, was honored during the 35th annual Spirit of Courage Awards event. The banquet was held at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla Aventine to honor 30 civilians, fire service and other emergency personnel who risked their lives to save others from death or injury from fire.
The event drew an estimated 500 fire service and law enforcement personnel, as well as community leaders.
“This is a very highly coveted award, especially among fire service,” said Diane Sparacino, director of communications at SDBI. “These stories come before the nominating committee [made up of] fire chiefs and fire service personnel, and they look at all the nominations. Not all of them [nominees] are selected to receive awards, so the bar is very high. It’s not taken lightly, and it’s really deserved.”
Grant said he happened to be at the right place at the right time on Dec. 11 when he sprang into action during a perilous situation.
“I was just going about my normal business,” Grant said, “and I never envisioned that morning that it was going to turn into such a big deal.”
Months later, when he was informed he had been nominated by the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department and selected as an award recipient, he said it caught him off guard.
“It’s kind of a special thing,” Grant said.
That Dec. 11 day was like most others for Grant as he drove down Rosecrans Street to work, coffee in hand. But something unusual caught his eye when he got to the intersection of Midway Drive and Rosecrans and saw smoke to his left.
As Grant drove closer, he spotted flames shooting from the second floor of Loma Portal Apartments on 3131 Cauby St. and immediately dialed 9-1-1.
He parked and headed toward the smoke and flames but didn’t hear sirens or see any emergency vehicles or personnel on site.
“If my family was in there I would want somebody to do something,” Grant said.
He made his way inside and upstairs through a hallway filled with smoke, roaring fire alarms and a frenzied scene.
“I knocked and kicked on every door on either side of the hallway,” Grant said.
“I was just crisscrossing ” one side, back to the other, kick and knock, kick and knock.”
At the end of the hall, he came to a room with an open door. Inside, he found a disabled woman in a motorized scooter, cradling a 4-week-old baby in her arms, and a 10-year-old boy at her side.
“I scooped that baby up and grabbed the kid and took them out,” Grant said, adding that he handed the infant to a young neighbor standing outside and went back into the building to rescue the mother.
By now the heat was incredibly intense, he said. Permeating the air was the smell of foam, plastic and wires burning and thick smoke and black soot that covered everything.
“I couldn’t breathe; my chest and lungs were just absolutely ” I couldn’t get air,” Grant said. “I told myself, ‘If I don’t get out of here they’re going to drag me out of here by my ankles.'”
Once outside, he checked on the baby and the boy and saw San Diego Police Officer Caleb Knobel standing in front. On his third trip back into the building, Grant went with Knobel to free the woman.
They carried her down the stairs and went back up to recover her scooter.
“Just as we went out onto the sidewalk, out of the burning building, the fire department guys were coming around the corner,” Grant said.
For his efforts, Grant was among those awarded the distinction of the Spirit of Courage Award. Civilians are nominated by local fire service or law enforcement agencies.
To be considered for the honor, potential recipients must meet the following criteria:
“¢ The nominee must have performed an exceptionally courageous act in an attempt to save another person from death or serious injury from fire.
“¢ The rescue attempt must have involved a high degree of personal risk or exposure to severe burn injury or death by fire.
Firefighters and law enforcement personnel are eligible for the award but they must have displayed a level of commitment not required or expected in their daily performance duties.
“In a lot of cases, the fire service personnel that are being honored are off duty. [In] some cases [they are in] flip-flops and T-shirts,” said Sparacino. “They pull off the side of the road when they see a burning car and jump in at their own peril and just do what needs to be done.
“These guys are just really out there helping people in the community unselfishly, without even giving it a second thought and just doing very brave things,” she said.
For more information, visit www.burninstitute.org.