A Lloydminster man who's been hailed a hero for kicking in a neighbour's front door and alerting the family inside that the house was on fire says he barely survived the blaze himself.
Travis Levitsky recounted the harrowing story on Monday when he was awarded a commendation from the city's mayor.
"The smoke was so bad, billowing," he said.
"I put my bunnyhug up and I kinda fell backwards. I fell backwards kinda because I couldn't breathe."
Doorbell video from Oct. 30 shows flames behind Levitsky as he frantically bangs on the door, rings the bell and yells for his neighbours to "please open up."
It was 4 a.m., and Levitsky had already alerted other neighbours.
He then took two kicks, the second one breaking the door wide open.
"If I didn't get into that house on the second kick, they probably would have found me on the step 'cause I was starting to get fuzzy and couldn't breathe," he said.
Mike Champagne, his wife, two children, and a dog were asleep inside the home. At first, Champagne thought the noise was from an intruder.
"I jumped out of bed and come around the corner. That’s when the door comes flying open and Travis comes in the door, and he’s yelling, ‘Hey, you guys, everyone in this house get out right now, there’s a fire,’” Champagne said. He posted the security video on Facebook.
“A lot of love, a lot of people calling him a hero – I call him a hero.”
Lloyminister's fire chief said the Champagnes were in serious danger from the blaze that ultimately damaged three houses.
"We always want to make sure that the public is safe when they're doing these things, but what [Levitsky] did, absolutely…probably saved the lives or the neighbours from injury," Leigh Sawicki said.
"It was a significant fire and congratulations to him for stepping up and helping out."
Mayor Gerald Aalbers handed Levitsky a framed commendation for "acts of bravery and heroism."
"Kicking the door on a house to wake somebody up cause their house is burning, a lot of people would just say, 'No, that's why there's the fire department, they'll do that,'" Aalbers told reporters.
"He went above and beyond. And those people are here today and able to be with us today. And who knows? We hope the fire department would have been able to rescue them, but they didn't have the smoke inhalation and any burns. Those are things that are incredible."
Levitsky said despite the risk to his own safety, he's glad he stepped up.
"People need to kinda get their heads on straight about what's important in life. And, you know, you're never too good or too bad to help anybody," he said.
With files from CKSA-TV and CTV News Edmonton's Karyn Mulcahy
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