CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — Firefighters are crediting an Amazon driver with helping two people escape a Cleveland Heights apartment building that caught fire Sunday evening.
News 5 spoke with John Davis, who said he was delivering a package across the street when he first smelled smoke and turned around and saw it coming from the basement of a nearby apartment building.
Davis said when he approached some of the residents who were already outside, they told him there were still at least two people still inside.
“I jumped out, ran toward the door and there was a young boy hanging out the window,” Davis explained. “Him and his father were in there so I went inside the doorway, I couldn’t see anything so I crawled and started yelling telling them to come toward me.”
Davis said he grabbed the boy first and brought him outside and then immediately grabbed his father and took him outside as well.
News 5 spoke with one of the individuals pulled from the building, who emigrated from Nepal and had been living in the building for the past six years.
Despite a language barrier, the man thanked the Amazon driver for helping him safely get out of the building.
“I’m just glad the gentleman and his son got out and I was there to help them,” Davis said.
A spokesperson with the Red Cross told News 5 they assisted 26 people in eight impacted apartments.
Battalion Chief Dan Candow with Cleveland Heights Fire Department told News 5 there was heavy smoke on the back of the building when they arrived. He added it’s not clear at this time what started the fire, but it is clear the role Davis played in all this.
“John Davis is a hero,” Candow said.
As a result, according to Candow, no injuries were reported and no one was transported to a hospital.
A sigh of relief for Davis, but no time to unwind after this ordeal.
“I still have packages to deliver,” he chuckled.
