| Name: | Daniel Whiteside |
| Gender: | Male |
| Agency: | Alton Fire Department |
| Type of Firefighter: | Career |
| Rank: | Captain |
| Type of Duty: | Firefighting operations, Firefighting operations, Search and rescue operations, Search and rescue operations |
| Type of Award: | Medal of Valor |
| Year of Award: | 2018 |
| Incident City: | Alton |
| Year of Incident: | 2017 |
| Incident Location Type: | Residential |
| Incident Attribute: | Fires |
Captain Daniel Whiteside of the Alton Fire Department was awarded with the Medal of Valor for his actions that saved a teenage girl from a house fire.
On July 18, 2017, Whiteside and firefighter Ben Taylor heard that a teenage girl was trapped in the basement of a house that was on fire and kicked out the glass and security bars on the basement window in an attempt to reach the girl. Whiteside broke out the small window and had to remove his air pack to make it through the space. He entered the tight window space, dropped down into the basement, located and retrieved a 13-year-old girl from the front bedroom of the small home and brought her to the window. Firefighters outside helped the girl up through the window to safety outdoors, and she walked down the street without assistance.
Citations:
Weller, Linda. “Illinois State Fire Marshal honors bravery by Alton, Wood River firefighters,” The Telegraph Website.
May 8, 2018.Gray, Dan. “Teen pulled from basement in amazing Alton house fire rescue,” Fox2Now St. Louis Website. July 19, 2017.