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May 5, 2009 2:11 pm US/Eastern
Deputy Who Saved Boy In Chamber Blast To Get Medal
Medal Of Honor To Be Given To Deputy John Melbourne
Rescued 4-Year Old Boy From Burning Hyperbaric Chamber
Child's Grandmother Died A Day After The Explosion & Fire
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
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The 4-year-old, Francesco Martinizi, was transported via air rescue helicopter to the hospital on Friday.
CBS
A Broward Sheriff's Deputy, who helped rescue a 4-year old boy and his grandmother from a burning hyperbaric chamber last week, will receive a Medal of Honor Wednesday.
Moments after an explosion and fire at the Ocean Hyperbaric Oxygen Neurologic Center in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Deputy John Melbourne arrived on the scene to help evacuate the building.
When he spotted 4-year old Franchesco Martinizi and his 62-year old grandmother Vincenza Pesce lying inside a burning hyperbaric chamber, he rushed into the chamber and lifted the boy, who was still holding his grandmother's hand, from the flames.
For that brave act, Deputy Melbourne will be among several BSO employees who receive honors Wednesday morning at the Broward Sheriff's Office annual awards ceremony, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale.
Pesce died early Saturday at the hospital, a day after the blast caused a flash fire inside the chamber where she had been keeping her grandson company. The boy, who suffers from cerebral palsy, remains in critical condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital with burns over 90-percent of his body. It's not known whether the child's burns are survivable.
His family brought him to South Florida for hyperbaric oxygen treatments because the treatment isn't offered in their home country of Italy.
Hyperbaric chambers are filled with 100 percent oxygen and can be used to treat diving injuries and other illnesses and wounds.
Authorities with BSO's homicide unit and the State Fire Marshal are still investigating the cause of the blast.
It appears that this is the first time such a death from explosion associated with a hyperbaric oxygen chamber has occurred in the United States.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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