A teacher who suffered burns to his face and hands while saving a student set on fire at a Saskatoon high school has been awarded North America’s highest honour for civilian heroism.
Sean Hayes, a 33-year-old teacher at Evan Hardy Collegiate, was among 18 recipients to receive the U.S. Carnegie Medal for Heroism for his exceptional acts of bravery in 2024.
The commission shared an account of what happened, adding it was reviewed by Hayes.
The account detailed that Hayes was in the hallway when the attack occurred. “He immediately instructed a co-worker to call 911 and instructed the girl to move to the ground,” the commission wrote, noting that the teacher then got on his hands and knees and tried to roll the victim back and forth to extinguish the flames, but was impeded by her backpack.
Hayes proceeded to pat out the flames using his hands, but realized his own clothes had caught fire. He stood up, pressed himself against some lockers, and removed his overshirt and T-shirt, the commission said.
The Saskatoon teacher then used his overshirt to stamp out the fire on the girl’s body, and when it was damaged by the flames, he used a co-worker’s shirt to continue putting out the fire.
Most of the flames had been extinguished by the time a school police officer arrived at the scene, according to the commission’s account. Hayes then used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames that had spread on the hallway floor.
The commission said Hayes sustained burns to the left side of his body, including his face, neck, side, and hand, but has since recovered.
The victim, who is also now 16, suffered burns to 40 percent of her body. During hearings, her mother told the Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench that her daughter required skin grafts and underwent six surgeries in the first six weeks after the attack. Scars also developed on her daughter’s vocal cords.
