BOSTON - A Massachusetts woman who saved her neighbor from a house fire is the 2024 recipient of the Madeline Amy Sweeney Award, named in honor of a flight attendant who was killed on 9/11.
Jillian Smith, from Wales, was presented the award during a ceremony at the State House on Wednesday by Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Sweeney's daughter Anna.
On Dec. 18, 2023, a fire brought out at a home in Wales. Smith, who had just put her baby down for a nap, ran outside to help her two elderly neighbors, Andre and Madeline Bouchard. Madeline Bouchard was still trapped inside the home, which was fully engulfed in flames, and her husband was trying to go back inside. Twice, Smith ran into the home to find Madeline Bouchard.
"She didn't think twice about doing so," said Driscoll.
Smith found Madeline Bouchard unconscious inside the home and dragged her outside to safety. When police responded to the fire, they found Smith and Andre Bouchard tending to his wife outside.
"In the selfless effort to help her neighbors, Jillian Smith acted without hesitation in the face of extreme danger and she saved their lives," said Driscoll.
"You exemplified an incredible act of selflessness, of courage, of bravery. It's the bravery that the Sweeney family understands and admires," said Healey. "It's something we all admire. Literally running into a burning building not once, but twice to save a life. It's incredible."
Smith briefly spoke after she was presented the award and said she was grateful her neighbors are now OK and that she would do it again.
"It was scary doing something so dangerous, having my baby and my family at home waiting for me, but I'm grateful that my neighbors are alive and well," said Smith. "I would hope others would do the same for those in need, just like Madeline Amy Sweeney did and I would do it all again in a heartbeat."
The award is given for civilian bravery for people acted to save the lives of others. It's named for Sweeney, a flight attendant from Acton on American Airlines Flight 11. Sweeney contacted the airline's ground crew with information about her flight's hijackers just minutes before the plane crashed into the World Trade Center.
"She alerted the world to the threat before losing her own life in this terrible act," said Driscoll.