Leo Meawasige had just finished breakfast on Monday morning, when he noticed thick, black smoke pouring out of a sixth-floor unit in an apartment building across the street.
Without hesitation, he ran inside the downtown Toronto apartment.
“I ran up the six flights of stairs,” Meawasige told reporters. “I got up there, I banged on every door that I possibly could, trying to tell people to get out until I found a hot door.”
Meawasige said he managed to get the door open. “I got the lady out, she looked like she was trying to get out as it is, but I guess the smoke or something made her really tired.”
The unit’s occupant was taken to hospital, suffering from second-degree burns.
Another tenant suffered smoke inhalation in the fire. Several others were trapped on their balconies until firefighters arrived to battle the three-alarm blaze.
“When we arrived, there was flames coming out of the apartment balcony and heavy black smoke,” Toronto Fire Division Cmdr. Dan MacIsaac said.
More than 60 firefighters worked to get the fire under control. Three floors of the Toronto Community Housing complex had to be evacuated.
On Monday morning, Toronto Mayor John Tory stopped by to speak with residents who were being sheltered in a transit bus. Tory praised Meawasige for his heroic efforts.
“I just think it’s extraordinary that a citizen like him, who says he has been a volunteer firefighter elsewhere, responds in that way that you’d like to think that we all would,” Tory told reporters at the scene.
Most of the damage was contained to the one unit, thanks to the quick work of firefighters.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Scott Lightfoot
