| Name: | Michael Rogers |
| Gender: | Male |
| Agency: | Chicago Fire Department |
| Type of Firefighter: | Career |
| Rank: | Firefighter |
| Type of Duty: | Firefighting operations, Search and rescue operations |
| Type of Award: | Medal of Honor |
| Year of Award: | 2004 |
| Incident City: | Chicago |
| Year of Incident: | 2003 |
| Incident Location Type: | Residential |
| Incident Attribute: | Fires |
Firefighter Michael Rogers of Squad 5 of the Chicago Fire Department received the Medal of Honor for his actions to save a victim from an apartment fire in Chicago, Illinois on June 15, 2003.
Firefighter Rogers was visiting his father on Father’s Day when he noticed a residential fire at 7735 South East End Avenue. The off-duty firefighter and expectant father—his wife was eight months pregnant at the time—immediately leaped into action. A woman alerted him that her aunt was still inside the apartment. He instructed a resident to break out two windows to help ventilate the fire, and then entered the smoke-filled apartment through a rear door without any of his protective gear on. He found a female victim in the front bedroom of the home. He lowered her to the ground to drag her out of the residence, but found the hallway exit blocked by heavy furniture.
At this time, Rogers was greeted by members of Chicago Fire Department, who helped move the furniture out of the way. Subsequently, they were able to remove the victim from the burning residence and perform CPR on her.
Citation:
Journal of the Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Chicago, Illinois, July 29, 2003.
”News,” Chicago Sun-Times, October 8, 2003.