PITTSBURGH, PA.:A Colchester County man has been posthumously awarded a prestigious honour.
Brent A. Delaney, 60, was awarded The Carnegie Medal for his heroic actions during a fire in his community the foundation that looks after it announced on Monday Sept. 21.
The Carnegie Foundation said that on the morning on June 16, 2025, a fire broke out inside an 82-year-old man’s Alton, Nova Scotia, home. Delaney, a Welding Supervisor, from Alton, was driving to work when he saw the fire and pulled over. Delaney had known the man for decades.
A woman who was also stopped at the scene after seeing flames saw Delaney on his hands and knees at a doorway at the opposite end of the house calling inside for the man. After the woman called 911, she lost sight of Delaney.
She told the dispatcher that she believed Delaney had entered the burning house in an attempt to reach the man.
When first-responders arrived, the house was fully engulfed in flames. Delaney and the homeowner were later found deceased inside the house near one another. Delaney died of smoke inhalation.
For his actions he was one of 16 North Americans awarded the Carnegie Medal for heroism.
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Those honoured by the Carnegie Hero Fund with the Carnegie Medal for heroism, included: a 24-year-old man who rescued an injured hang glider that crashed on the side of a mountain in Duncan, British Columbia; a 19-year-old woman who was shot and killed while coming to the aid of her neighbor who was involved in a domestic violence incident in Peoria, Illinois; and a 53-year-old man who died in an attempt to stop an armed assailant and save the patrons of a crowded bar in Trabuco Canyon, California.
This is the Hero Fund’s third award announcement for 2026. Each individual will receive the Carnegie Medal, the highest honor for civilian heroism in the U.S. and Canada.
Among those saved by this quarter’s Carnegie Medal recipients were five children, including a 12-year-old boy who was saved from drowning by a 28-year-old man after being swept downstream in a river in Spencer, Iowa, and a 13-year-old boy in Stockton, California, whose grandfather died in an attempt to rescue him from burning.
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 10,597 individuals since the inception of the Pittsburgh-based Fund in 1904.
Each of the recipients or their survivors will receive a financial grant.
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Throughout the 122 years since the Fund was established by industrialist-philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, over $47 million has been given in one-time grants, scholarship aid, death benefits, and continuing assistance.
The recipients are:
Brandon D. Walcott Marmora, New Jersey
Evan R. Scheck Spencer, Iowa
Erik Opal Council Bluffs, Iowa
Michael D. Shoemaker Jr. Vancouver, Washington
Matthew Robert Clark Victoria, British Columbia
Jakaiden Rynearson* Peoria, Illinois
Amanda Williams Vallejo, California
Glen R. Sprowl Jr.* Stanton, California
Larry Pickett Sr. Raleigh, North Carolina
Mason E. Marshall* Lancaster, Ohio
Jose Villalta* Stockton, California
Brent A. Delaney* Alton, Nova Scotia
Mason Laney Minooka, Illinois
Logan Green Minooka, Illinois
Eslam Saad Dublin, Ohio
Luke Nelson Dallas, Texas
*Died in heroic act
To nominate someone for the Carnegie Medal, complete an online nomination form at carnegiehero.org or write to the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission, 436 Seventh Ave., Suite 1101, Pittsburgh, PA 15219.
More information on the Carnegie Medal and the history of the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission can be found at Carnegiehero.org.
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