2 off-duty police officers praised for saving man from fire in St. Catharines

Two Toronto-area police officers are being recognized for their heroic efforts after they pulled a man from a burning building in St. Catharines on Wednesday.

Firefighters say the blaze started around 11:30 p.m. in the second floor unit above one of the cafes on St. Paul Street near James Street.

York Regional Police Const. Justin Baird and Toronto Police Const. Aidan Loughlin were off-duty and happened to be in the area at the time.

They noticed flames coming from the second-storey unit and ran towards the building, asking bystanders to call 911.

Baird and Loughlin broke through the front door and found an older male victim unconscious in one of the units on the second floor.

“We kicked the glass in, went up the stairs, immediately thick cloud of smoke, couldn’t see, I knew Justin was behind me I could hear him and we got to the top of the stairs, says Aiden.

“I was at the top I went a little bit to the left and I found some feet and kept going and sure enough I found the victim of the fire so I managed to pull him towards the stairs and kind of pass half of him off to Justin while I got the upper half.” said Loughlin.

READ MORE: Man in critical condition after fire in downtown St. Catharines

They both inhaled spoke, but the pair were able to remove the man from the fire and pull him outside to safety before Niagara EMS took over his care.

“I think it’s just part of the job that we do and when things are going bad for other people we are just not programmed, but we want to go towards. We want to help people so when we saw the fire and the fames. flash. we basically didn’t think we just did.” said Baird.

The man is now being treated at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, where he is reportedly in critical condition.

The two off-duty officers are being hailed for their life-saving decision to rescue the man.

Mike Bird, an investigator with the Ontario Fire Marshal, says they don’t recommend going into a fire, but the officers acted as great citizens and certainly saved the man’s life.

Baird has reportedly only been with York Regional Police for less than a year.

Both officers suffered smoke inhalation and were treated on scene by paramedics.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated by the Ontario Fire Marshal.