John Stickovich , 62, was on his way to work and saw smoke pouring from the two story house. Firefighters had not yet arrived, so he decided to stop and see if he could help. "The mother was sitting on the lawn with her one baby and I asked her if she was all right and she said, 'My baby is still in the house,' and I was thinking to myself, 'Oh my God, I have to save the baby.' That's how it was going to be," Stickovich told News 2.

Stickovich immediately ran to the side door of the house and kicked it in, but the smoke and flames were too heavy, so he went to the back of the house and crawled through an open door to the kitchen. He still could not find the child.

"I came back out and asked her where the baby was. She told me, 'Next to the kitchen by the baby gate,'" he said. Without hesitating, Stickovich ran back into the house, crawled under the smoke, and felt around until he reached the childproof gate   but there still was no sign of the child.

"It was getting so bad in there, I was getting ready to leave actually and then the baby cried or made a sound, so I'm thinking to myself, 'The baby is right here,' so I just lurched forward and my arm went across his leg. I grabbed him by the leg, [pulled] and then we were both out."

Firefighters are convinced that if Stickovich had not acted quickly as he did, the child would have perished in the smoke and flames.

"He risked his life to bring that baby out, he did an amazing job this morning," said CFD spokesman Lt. Mike Norman. The situation inside the burning house was so dangerous that two firefighters were injured battling the blaze. One of them was trapped under debris after the front porch collapsed. Thankfully, he was rescued by his co-workers.

"They called a mayday on the radio. Whenever we have a mayday, it's something that we practice for, we a have a rapid intervention team that stands ready to rescue a firefighter in that sort of an event, which they did this morning," said Norman

Stickovich, who is retired from Laborers Union Local 310 and now runs his own repair business, said his only previous experience dealing with fires was while working on demolition projects. He said his actions on Monday were the result of raw instincts and determination.

"I feel wonderful that I could save the baby. That mother doesn't have to mourn her baby. That baby gets to live today," he said. "Everybody is just calling and saying how great of a job it was, but I mean, I would do it for anybody, it doesn't matter. And I would hope that somebody would do it for me."
Stickovich was evaluated by doctors at MetroHealth Medical Center and allowed to go home. No information has been provided about the members of young family who escaped the fire. Investigators say it appears the blaze was accidental, and caused by an electrical malfunction.



Firefighters reported a "mayday" call from a burning home in Cleveland, Ohio on Monday morning.
Firefighters said a mother and her twin 11-month-old babies were out safely, but two firefighters were injured.


The Lord was definitely ordering his steps that day.



ETA; Is Stickovich a member here?

Awesome job saving the baby’s life.

Nice, man is a hero....

Awesome

Beers are on me!

A hero. Good to know they're still out there. Good story.

A great ending to an otherwise tragic event.



When I was a city Cop there was a house fire wherein a toddler was killed.
Mom and Dad slept upstairs, and the toddler slept in a crib downstairs in the living room.

Their house caught fire in the middle of the night, and Mom and Dad run out of the house past the their toddler, who subsequently burned to death.


Another time I stopped a car trailing thick and heavy smoke.  
Two women get out of the car and run away after pulling over, leaving behind a toddler strapped in a car seat.

I pulled the child out of the car, and called the FD.

Oil leaking onto the exhaust manifold was the culprit.
The car wasn’t on fire yet, but the women thought it was.
One was the mother, who told me she was too scared and didn’t think about saving her child.

Not sure how he moves so well with those giant brass balls clanging around everywhere, but helluva save, sir!

Great job by Stickovich!

I couldn't imagine leaving my children
behind in a burning house, or any other
dangerous situation.

Outstanding job, sir! Very well done, indeed!

Damn Boomer

Solid work!!!

I wanna know how the mother could just sit there on the lawn. "Oh well, at least I got one baby out."

Mother was just sitting on the lawn? I know a mother who put herself in the ICU trying rescue one of her children from a house fire (sadly, she was not successful), and this one was just sitting on the lawn for some rando to make the effort? What gives?

And props to him, though.

Hero man is for a true hero!

I almost lost my house to a fire in 2022, if you have never had to go into a burning house, you can’t possibly comprehend how bad the smoke and heat can be. In my case, the garage door failed open and my neighbors and I started pulling my wife’s and my motorcycles out-all 8 of them. The fire was already in the garage when we started and they were each good for one trip in….. and I didn’t’ blame them after my first trip. The first whiff of smoke was enough to gas me for the rest of the night… as I worked thru the stack of bikes, the fire got worse and worse to where the smoke was down to ankle level and the police officer on scene tried to stop me twice… all I knew was that the fire was getting worse because I couldn’t see running into the fire but I could see the handlebars when I got toward the back…. My last trip in I turned around and the entire garage door opening was belching flames. I was literally seconds away from whole body skin grafts.

This guy is way more than a hero-I can’t imaging how bad that sucked.

...

Rock on hero. Mom sucks, however.

Updated.

Sad but I get that impression just looking at her.

That's awesome. Heckuva good job.

That is an awesome story.

Fuck yeah that's a cool story

Hell yeah man!  Hell yeah!  

Solid dude.

Good on that guy.   Can't imagine living with myself if I left my kid behind.

BTW, too bad SCW isn't still around.

Great story. In to see if he's a member.

That is a real life hero right there.

Be the difference. He lived up to that one.

He should never need to buy a beer again.