| Name: | Joseph Kish |
| Gender: | Male |
| Agency: | Chicago Fire Department |
| Type of Firefighter: | Career |
| Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Type of Duty: | Firefighting operations, Search and rescue operations |
| Type of Award: | Medal of Honor |
| Year of Award: | 2007 |
| Incident City: | Chicago |
| Year of Incident: | 2006 |
| Incident Location Type: | Residential |
| Incident Attribute: | Fires |
Lieutenant Joseph Kish of the Chicago Fire Department was awarded the Medal of Honor for his efforts to rescue a man from an apartment fire in Chicago, Illinois on January 25, 2006.
Prior to his heroic actions, Kish was severely burned in a fire at the abandoned Brach’s Candy Factory in October, 2005. After enduring skin grafts and a prolonged stay at a hospital, Kish was cleared to resume work. While doing volunteer work around 1:30 P.M. at the St. Jerome School on the 2800 block of South Princeton Avenue, Kish was alerted that there was a fire billowing out of a nearby third-story apartment window. The off-duty lieutenant had not even worked his first scheduled shift since recovering from his burns when he decided to intervene.
Kish made his way over to the building, thinking it was unoccupied. After noticing tenants, he proceeded up an exterior stairwell to the second floor, only to find a locked door. He kicked it in and made his way up to the third floor, where he kicked down another locked door. Many of the apartment’s tenants headed for the stairwell once Kish kicked them open, saving their lives. Once on the third floor, without oxygen or protective gear, he crawled his way into a bedroom in one of the burning apartments. He found a disoriented fifty-year-old man in the bedroom. The lieutenant directed him down the stairwell to safety. Kish resumed his search of the apartment, and, fortunately, found nobody else in it. Once he returned to the first floor, he was met by firefighters from Engine 8 and Truck 4. He then assisted them in dousing the flames.
Citations:Journal of the Proceedings of the City Council of the City of Chicago, Illinois: Regular Meeting, March 1, 2006.
2 get highest honors for bravery, heroism,
Chicago Tribune, October 11, 2006.
’You’ve got a job … you stick it out’—Pair praised as heroes for bravery: training, courage kick in for cop, firefighter who put lives on the line,
Chicago Sun-Times, October 11, 2006.