The sound of a nearby explosion. The sight of smoke rising from an overturned car.

These were just two life-changing occurrences that turned otherwise ordinary Western Pennsylvania residents into saviors who put themselves at risk for others.

Jeffrey S. Peters Jr., 19, of Meadville, and Clint J. Deniker, 35, of Grove City, were among those awarded Carnegie Heroes medals yesterday for their courage.

The Carnegie Heroes Fund gave its fourth group of awards this year to 19 people who risked their own lives to save others. Some of the people died or were injured rescuing others who were drowning, being attacked or trapped in fires. Recipients, or their heirs, each receive $6,000 and a medal.

Mr. Peters was 18 when he heard the propane explosion that destroyed the mobile home of his 50-year-old neighbor, Debra A. Knuth, on Sept. 11, 2007. According to his Carnegie Heroes profile, Mr. Peters "entered the collapsing structure through its back door and in intense heat made his way to Ms. Knuth's bedroom. Finding her pinned in her bed, he lifted debris off her and pulled her from the bed. He then picked her up and carried her to the door, where he handed her to another neighbor who had responded."

Flames consumed the mobile home moments after they escaped.

Mr. Deniker, a wildlife conservation officer with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, was leaving his home April 4 when he saw a burning vehicle on a nearby rural road. The car, driven by Thomas B. Stevenson Sr., 52, had overturned and come to rest on its roof.

Mr. Deniker's Carnegie Heroes profile said he drove to the scene and found Mr. Stevenson "unconscious and upside down, restrained by his safety belt with a portion of one leg extended through an opening in the wreckage on the driver's side of the car."

Mr. Deniker pulled on the wreckage to widen the opening and then knelt beside the car and extended his upper body through the opening. He then cut Mr. Stevenson's safety belt with a knife and freed his other leg, which was trapped.

"He grasped Mr. Stevenson by the ankles and pulled him, with difficulty, free of the vehicle. As he dragged him away from the car, flames entered its interior and spread nearly to engulf it."

Mr. Stevenson was hospitalized two weeks for treatment of his injuries, but he was not burned.

Pittsburgh steel baron Andrew Carnegie launched the hero fund in 1904 after hearing about rescue stories from a mine disaster that had killed 181 people. Since then, $31.1 million has been awarded to 9,243 people.