THUNDER BAY — A rural man is lucky to be alive after his home was destroyed in a late-night fire last week.
Details of the Feb. 11 incident came to light Tuesday when one of two people who came to the man's aid – and the chief of the Oliver Paipoonge fire department – described what happened.
Jesse Meakin, 19, was driving on Oliver Road en route to Kakabeka Falls when he noticed smoke coming from a residence.
After turning back to check, he found an attached garage in flames, and that the fire had already spread to the house.
"I called 911 right away, did a quick search through the windows, and noticed there was a guy inside," Meakin told TBnewswatch.
He said the man had fallen asleep in the living room, and was unaware of the fire.
"I ended up just kicking his front door in, and got him out of there."
The back door was already surrounded by flames, and the front door was covered with insulation and weather barrier, so Meakin ripped it off and forced the door open, pushing away some furniture that was blocking the way.
Pulling his hoodie over his head, he took a deep breath and entered the home, then – with the aid of another passerby who had also stopped to help – took the man to the warmth and safety of his pickup truck until emergency responders arrived.
He said the rescued man at this point "was just kind of out of it, didn't really know what was going on."
Meakin had heard stories, he said, about people pulling their phones out to record fires without stepping up to help.
"I figured I wasn't putting myself in enough danger that I couldn't get this guy out and save his life . . . I was just there at the right time and place. I think anyone should have done what I did in this situation."
Oliver Paipoonge Fire Chief Sean Horan said the two people who came to the man's assistance "did a remarkable job" and probably saved his life.
But he added: "I would say, just a caution, that it is a very risky thing to do, and I would hate for somebody to put themselves at risk and have a bad outcome. Instead of one person that's in trouble, it's two or three."
Horan said the cause of the fire remains undetermined.
Crystal Wupori has established a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of raising $5,000, saying her 69-year-old father "lost everything" in the fire.
He'd rented the property for the past 17 years, and didn't have tenants' insurance.
But she said she knows the outcome would have been so much worse if not for the intervention of the two men.
"Had it been five minutes later, or had they not stopped, my dad would have stayed sleeping and he would have died in that fire...We're just so grateful," she said.
