Kahnawake man on way home from work saves five people in LaSalle fire

A Kahnawake man is being praised for rescuing multiple residents from a burning Lasalle duplex, after a chance detour put him at the scene just in time.

A former peacekeeper from Kahnawake is being hailed as a hero by residents on McVey Street in Lasalle after he ran into a burning building and rescued several residents.

Tontie Stacey said it was partly thanks to gridlock on Highway 20 that forced him to take a detour through LaSalle on his way home from work on April 7, putting him at the right place at the right time when the blaze broke out shortly before 5 p.m.

When he arrived, he found a Mercedes engulfed in flames in a driveway and had spread to a row of duplexes on McVey Street. Concerned there may be an explosion, he immediately ran to the building and banged on the doors, shouting at people to get out of the building.

While many were able to get out on foot, he said he saw an elderly woman on the balcony clutching her purse and frozen with fear.

“I just came running up, held my breath and went over the fire and picked her up and carried her down the stairs to safety,” said Stacey, who helped four others escape.

But it took a toll on Stacey, who has asthma. He made his way to Kahnawake, where he was treated for smoke inhalation.

“They brought me into the ambulance right away. And they gave me oxygen because you have a lot of smoke in your lungs,” he said.

It took firefighters two hours to bring the blaze under control. A spokesperson for the Montreal fire department says the cause of the fire was a cigarette butt in a garbage can.

Once he was better, news of his heroic feat spread in the community. His story was featured in the weekly newspaper, lori:wase, and soon spread online. While doing an interview with the Montreal Gazette Wednesday, Stacey said he met the elderly woman he saved.

“She was starting to cry tears of joy knowing that I saved her life,” he said.

The story has also made neighbour Cheryl Fielding, who witnessed the fire, emotional, especially knowing it was a stranger who was taking an unexpected detour that day.

“I’m so grateful and happy that he did go into the smoke and pulled her out,” she said. “It’s all about luck and timing, because I don’t know if anybody would have had the courage to go in there. It was awesome.”