This year, faced with another fire, he helped a neighbor and her three young daughters to safety from the second floor of their home on Harlan Drive.

Mr. Larkin recalled that he had finished watching an NFL playoff game in his garage about 8:40 p.m. Jan. 8 when he heard a woman screaming, "Somebody help us!" When he walked around to the front of his house, he saw that she was hollering from a second-story window.

Mr. Larkin, who has two young daughters, said he ran to the woman and coaxed her to dangle each of her daughters out the window so he could catch them. He caught the mother, too.

Capt. Malone said the smoky fire burned much of the kitchen and living room. The blaze was caused by a cigarette that the woman, whom he didn't identify, had thrown into a garbage can. Damage was estimated at $18,000.

Mr. Larkin's toughest challenge came when, as a 17-year-old on Dec. 30, 1983, he tried to rescue two girls from a burning home. Eight-year-old Kristi Williams died in the house. Police pulled out Jennifer Williams, 5, but it was too late to save her.

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