An off-duty firefighter is being hailed a hero for rescuing a man from a burning rooming house in Cabbagetown.
The fire broke out at a Toronto Community Housing (TCH) building on Carlton Street, near Parliament Street, around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
It appears the fire started in one of the upper floors, and flames could be seen shooting through the roof.
Dave Archer, who has 12 years of experience on the Toronto Fire Service, said he was in the neighbourhood at a local office teaching a first-aid class. When the class was on break, he stepped onto Carlton Street and saw smoke coming from the house.
He noticed a man was hanging out of a window on the second floor, as smoke poured out around him.
Archer ran into the home, despite the fact he was wearing blue jeans, a golf shirt and flip-flops.
“As soon as I got to the landing, I could see this gentleman through the smoke, grabbed him, pulled him through the window and escorted him down the stairs, and got into the paramedics for treatment,” he said.
“He told me he could not hang on much longer and he was about to fall.”
Curt Isakson is a 35 year veteran of the fire service. Curt is currently a Battalion Chief for Escambia County Fire Rescue. Previously worked 9 years with the Pensacola Fire Department where he was assigned as the Company Officer on Rescue 31. Curt’s fire service experiences started at a young age as a Junior firefighter with the Midway Fire Protection District and rose through the ranks to Captain. He has worked in volunteer, career, and combination departments.
Curt has held all ranks up to Battalion Chief and been assigned to operations, training, inspections, and was Chief of Special Operations for 7 years. Curt owns and operates County Fire Tactics that covers a very diverse range of fire service topics, as well as Firefighter Rescues, a site that documents rescues made by firefighters around the country.
He has annual contracts with numerous departments to provide standardized monthly training for these departments that respond daily together under an automatic aid agreement. Curt teaches nationally to include; FDIC, Firehouse Expo, Firehouse World, Orlando Fire Conference, Atlanta Fire Conference, Bowling Green State University, and owns/operates the annual HROC, COBC, WOTF, CFT ODP on Pensacola Beach. He is a Florida Certified Fire Officer, Instructor, Inspector, Arson, and FLUSAR.
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