N.H. man honored for saving 97-year-old woman from house fire

A Nashua, N.H., man has received the prestigious Carnegie Award for risking his life to pull a 97-year-old woman from her burning home in October 2021.

Jose M. Pichardo, 41, received the award during a ceremony at the Nashua Fire Rescue station, according to New Hampshire Fire Marshal Sean P. Toomey’s office.

Pichardo saved Shirley M. Buder’s life on the evening of Oct. 1, 2021, according to fire officials. They said he was driving home from work when he saw flames shooting from the back of her residence on Forest Park Drive in Nashua.

“Pichardo kicked down the locked front door and crawled toward the sound of Buder’s voice, where he found her sitting in a chair in her living room,” the fire marshal said in a statement. “Telling her to remain in the chair, Pichardo dragged the chair to the front door and onto the home’s porch where another man assisted Pichardo in carrying Buder away from the house.”

Buder, the statement said, was hospitalized for smoke inhalation and recovered after two days, while Pichardo also suffered from smoke inhalation and recovered the following day.

Pichardo is the 50th recipient in New Hampshire to receive the Carnegie Medal, considered among the highest civilian honors in the United States and Canada, according to the statement.

“The recipients of this honor are civilians who knowingly and voluntarily risk death or serious physical injury to an extraordinary degree to save the life of another person,” the statement said. “Nominations are submitted to the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission and are evaluated against a clearly defined set of criteria and requirements, largely established in 1904.”

The harrowing episode unfolded just before 6 p.m. on the night in question, when flames had quickly spread in the kitchen of the single-story home, fire officials said at the time.

Lariana Garvis, who witnessed the blaze and also participated in the rescue efforts, said at the time via Facebook that she saw smoke billowing from the home’s windows as she drove by and immediately began screaming for help.

A video captured by Garvis at the scene shows two men, whom Garvis identified as Pichardo and her neighbor, Tom, carrying Buder out of the home in a chair.