Hero says anyone else would have done the same

Martin Johnson is a modest hero.
The North Bay man was honoured at Monday night’s city council meeting for bravery because he saved a woman during a fire Aug. 22 at the Edgewater Apartments, 365 Lakeshore Road.
Johnson, who lives in the same building, was presented with a framed citation by Mayor Jack Burrows.
The fire broke out the same day as a power blackout in the city, Johnson said.
“The alarm went off at about five in the morning and when I opened my apartment door, the hall was filled with thick black smoke,” Johnson said.
He started crawling along the hallway when he encountered a woman who had collapsed.
The fire had apparently started two doors down from him in the woman’s apartment, Johnson said.
“I dragged her to the stairwell and got her a couple of steps down and then that’s when I blacked out, and the next thing I know there’s a fireman standing over me and he helped me down,” Johnson said.
He spent two weeks in intensive care but pulled through.
“We didn’t know if he would survive or not,” said Johnson’s father Gordon.
Another woman who lived in the building was not as fortunate and died trying to find her cat.
While the woman Johnson saved likely would have died without his help, he downplays the hero title.
“It’s something I think anyone would have done in my place and it’s just the way I was raised,” Johnson said.
“I just couldn’t leave her behind and I didn’t think twice about helping her.”
And what did he think of the city citation?
“It’s nice, I wasn’t expecting it, but it’s something to put up on the wall.”
Johnston’s niece Alexa said her uncle is definitely someone special.
“I think he’s a hero,” she said, “because he saved somebody’s life.