Lafayette's Nick Bostic receives Carnegie Hero Medal for saving five people from a fire
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Nick Bostic's heroism is being nationally recognized with the recent announcement that he will be honored with the Carnegie Hero Medal.
Bostic is one of 15 people recognized this year to receive the hero medal, which recognizes people "who risked serious injury or death to save others," according to the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission website.
“It’s crazy," Bostic said Monday about life after the July 11 rescue of five people from a burning house. "Crazy like It’s still unbelievable to me.
“What happened that night that possessed me to go into that house was God’s will.”
Bostic drove past a burning house in the 2200 block of Union Street about 12:30 a.m. July 11, and saw a house on fire. He ran into the burning house and helped four people escape the blaze, then he went back into the burning house to rescue a 6-year-old girl.
Trapped in the burning house, Bostic jumped from a second-floor window with the girl, according to police and fire investigators.
More:Video shows rescuer moments after saving child by jumping from burning house
He suffered burns and cuts in the rescue, and the 6-year-old girl suffered a minor cut on her foot, according to news reports at the time. Bostic was hospitalized for three days after the rescue, the Carnegie site states.
Not surprisingly, Bostic's life changed after the national attention of his heroism became news.
“I’m still the same old guy,” he said. “It opened up a lot of opportunity.”
He wished that schools taught students how to see opportunity and how to leverage it.
“I’m trying to start my business,” he said, explaining he has a pole barn at his house with a lift and tools for auto repairs.
He's opening a customized automotive shop and an automotive repair shop with an eye to provide affordable repairs.
In the flood of media attention, Bostic and his friends never mentioned his struggles before the fire.
“I have a roof over my head,” Bostic said of life today.
“The night of the fire, we’d (he and his girlfriend, Kara) just moved into this apartment,” Bostic said. “A week earlier, I was sleeping in my car.”
Bostic also spoke Monday about his struggles with chemical addictions, which he gave up a few months before he charged into the burning house on Greenbush Street.
“I’ve been numbing my problems away since I was 17,” Bostic said, noting he's been sober now for about 15 months.
Bostic didn't share news about his sobriety before now. He explained using drugs was his way of emotionally pushing away the pain in his young life. He's facing it now and moving forward, he said.
Bostic and his girlfriend, Kara, have a son.
Their family members, as well as their friends, keep them grounded in Lafayette, even after the national attention for his heroism, he said.
Bostic said the couple who live across the street from the fire nominated him for the Carnegie Hero Medal.
He had to fill out some paperwork for the nomination, and Carnegie had to vet the claims made in the nomination.
“They got a hold of me about a week ago," Bostic said, "and told me they had a board meeting — or something — and picked me.”
"Each individual will receive the Carnegie Medal, North America’s highest honor for civilian heroism," the Carnegie website states. "The Carnegie Medal is given throughout the U.S. and Canada to those who enter extreme danger while saving or attempting to save the lives of others. With this announcement, the Carnegie Medal has been awarded to 10,355 individuals since the inception of the Pittsburgh-based Fund in 1904."
"Each of the recipients or their survivors will receive a financial grant," the website states.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Lafayette's Nick Bostic receives Carnegie Hero Medal for fire rescue
