| Name: | Jason Durbin |
| 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: | 2011 |
| Incident City: | Chicago |
| Year of Incident: | 2009 |
| Incident Location Type: | Residential |
| Incident Attribute: | Fires |
Firefighter Jason Durbin of Truck 2 of the Chicago Fire Department was awarded the Medal of Honor for his efforts to rescue a woman trapped in a fire on the twenty-eighth floor of a building in Chicago, Illinois on December 13, 2009.
A fire broke that day out atop the twenty-nine story Bryant House building of condominiums on 1455 N. Sandburg Terrace at 2 P.M. Firefighter Durbin was off-duty, working a second job as an ambulance driver, when he noticed smoke billowing out of a unit near the top of the building. He entered Bryant House and alerted its staff to keep the elevators and stairwells clear. He subsequently ran up twenty-eight flights of stairs to the burning condo. He took a deep breath and then entered the unit. Crawling on the floor, he found a middle-aged female victim in the hallway. She was still conscious, though curled up in the fetal position. Durbin put the victim on his back and carried her all the way down to the ground floor.
Citations:
”Chicago firefighter selected as ‘hometown hero.’” ABC7 News.com, August 9, 2011.
”Chicago, Ill. Firefighter/Paramedic Jason Durbin.” Firehouse.com, April 8, 2011.
"Firehouse Heroism & Community Service Awards," Firehouse, April, 2011.
”Jason Durbin firefighter hero.” Chicago Red Cross.org, n.d.
”Off-duty firefighter rescues 1 in Near North Side high-rise fire.” Chicago Tribune, December 13, 2009.
"2010 Ray Downey Courage and Valor Award: A Look at the Nominees," Fire Engineering, April 2010.