Plenty of heroes in northern Saskatchewan, awards list reveals

As he was doing this, he could see the flames starting to travel up the side of the house, so he got the neighbour, Rod Morin, to spray the flames with a garden hose while Peres could hear children screaming inside the house.

He broke the front door and found an unconscious woman on the couch and woke her up, guiding her out of the house while she was in a state of panic.

Peres then went back into the house and found two children in the hallway and took them out to the woman. The fire was now burning fiercely, and smoke was making it hard to breathe, but Peres went back a third time and found two babies sleeping in a back bedroom. He took them out and then went back in for the fourth time.

In order to breathe, he had to crouch low but found another woman and brought her outside.

After getting them out, he took them across the street to safety and began giving them first aid to make sure they were breathing and checked them for burns.

Within seconds, the house collapsed. According to the information that was to be read out at the bravery awards ceremony in Regina, there is no doubt that Peres saved six lives, “demonstrating exceptional bravery and selflessness by entering a burning structure four times with imminent risk to his own life.”

For his conspicuous bravery during extreme danger in saving several lives during a house fire, the RCHA gold medal for bravery was awarded to Peres.

Peres was not the only hero to get an award on Friday, however. Elaine Ratt was given a silver medal for bravery for risking her own life to save someone else’s.

Ratt was working at the Sucker River Gas Bar on November 10, 2024, about 30 kms north of La Ronge.

At about 11 am, a boy of about 10 years old ran up in a panic and told her that his friend had fallen through the ice on the river.

Ratt called 911 right away and then went with the boy to river where she could see another boy in the water. He was struggling to keep his head above the water and was in clear trouble.

After watching the boy continue to get weaker, Ratt decided she needed to take more immediate action as emergency services were still 20 minutes away.

She walked out onto the ice and then switched to crawling on her hands and knees. The ice was less than an inch thick and she could hear it cracking beneath her.

When she was still about five feet away, she saw the boy start to go under so she moved as as fast as possible. Just as she got within arm’s reach, the ice broke and she too fell into the water.

She managed to grab the boy, lift him out and patted his back until he coughed and took a breath.

Elaine found a rock to stand on and told the boy to start rolling towards the shore. He could go a short distance but then could not continue.

With hypothermia a real threat, Ratt also needed to get out of the icy water but her attempts kept breaking the ice. Eventually, she managed to get out and crawled to the boy. There, she was able to stand up and carry him to the store. When she got inside, she helped the boy take off his wet clothes and shoes.

An RCMP officer who had driven by was told she was fine and she went to her vehicle to get a blanket, which she wrapped around the boy.

Because she risked her life in order to save the boy, Ratt was presented with the silver medal.

Other awards were given for acts of bravery around Saskatchewan.

Among those were protective services officers from Saskatoon who managed to grab a grenade from an elderly man at St. Paul’s Hospital on Feb. 14, 2022.

The officers managed to get the grenade away from the man and learned later from Saskatoon City Police that it was real.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

Plenty of heroes in northern Saskatchewan, awards list reveals

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