A Hamilton teen who pulled a man from a tent engulfed in flames has been awarded the Carnegie Medal, given to those who “risked serious injury or death attempting to save others in acts of extraordinary heroism.”
On Monday, Zeke Fox was announced as one of the latest recipients, alongside 17 others from the U.S. and Canada, by the Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund.
“The biggest thing that I’ve learned from all of this is that my want, I guess you could say, to help those in need has just been more and more cemented,” Fox, 19, said to CBC on Monday.
He hasn’t yet received his medal or the financial grant that comes with it, he said, but was aware of the recognition by the fund.
On the night of Jan. 5, 2025, the then 17-year-old dragged Shawn Goodwin out of the flames that destroyed the 53-year-old’s encampment at Bayfront Park in Hamilton.
Fox was driving home when he saw smoke.
“There were a few small pops and then the tent went up in a massive fireball right in front of me,” Fox told CBC in a previous interview. “I heard Shawn screaming, and that’s when I knew I had to help him.”
Fox found Goodwin under a tarp inside the tent, freed him and dragged him outside, instructing him to roll in the snow. Police and paramedics arrived shortly after.
“The last year since this incident has been a roller-coaster of emotions … some days are easier than others,” Fox said Monday, referencing the trauma he experienced following the ordeal.
Fox made several visits to Goodwin while he was in hospital, but lost touch with him about a month after the incident.
“I think the most important thing out of all of this is that it’s important to remember that everybody is a person,” Fox said. “You know, some people make choices, but that doesn’t mean they no longer deserve to be treated as a person.”
Fox graduated from high school last year and has been working at Cornerstone Special Needs Services in Hamilton ever since. He was recently accepted into the Police Foundations program at Mohawk College.
“Since I was little I’ve wanted to be a police officer, and it’s the only job I’ve ever wanted,” he said. “There’s never been another option.”
“And obviously being a police officer, all your shifts are spent doing public service, and I’ve really decided even before this incident took place, that’s all I want. And since the incident, it’s just been even more to do what I can to help anyone in need.”
‘I felt so close to him,’ says teen who saved man from tent fire at Hamilton encampment
Fox’s mother, Christine Fox, said she’s “extremely proud” of her son and the work he has done on himself following what she says was a traumatic experience.
“We all have these aha moments and he’s used this to give him drive and motivation,” she told CBC. “He has a huge goal to go on and be a police officer, so I believe this is going to motivate him.”
Fox was previously awarded a certificate of commendation from Mayor Andrea Horwath. He said he plans to use the financial grant that goes along with the medal to help pay for his college classes.
According to Carnegie Hero Fund spokesperson Jewels Phraner, just 1,500 of the over 10,000 awards given since the fund’s inception in 1904 have been to individuals 17 or younger.
“What our heroes say to us after the fact is, ‘I wasn’t thinking. I just acted. I never made a choice. I just acted. It was very instinctual,'” Phraner told CBC.
“And so, you know, I don’t think anyone knows whether or not they’re the type of person to do this until they’re faced with something of such peril. And in this case, you know, the victim’s very, very lucky that Zeke was the type of person to do this. The fact that he stopped driving, he parked and stopped and then acted is just incredible, especially for such a young person.”
The Carnegie Hero Fund awarded 18 individuals the Carnegie Medal in 2026.
Fox was one of two Canadians to receive the reward. Saint John, New Brunswick’s Matthew Baxter was honoured for rescuing a child from a river reservoir.
