‘I Have to Save the Baby’: Hero Selflessly Goes Into Raging Inferno to Save 11-Month-Old’s Life

An Ohio man is being hailed a hero after risking his life to save a baby trapped inside a burning home.

John Stickovich, 62, told WJW-TV he rescued the 11-month-old child Monday morning, repeatedly going inside the house to try to find the baby in the haze of smoke and fire.

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Stickovich explained how he jumped into action after seeing smoke billowing out from a house. He was on his way to work at the time and jumped out of the car.

With emergency workers not yet on the scene, he acted fast.

“The mother was sitting on the tree lawn with her one baby and I asked her if she was all right and she said, ‘My baby is still in the house,’” Stickovich told WJW-TV. “And I was thinking to myself … ‘I have to save the baby.’”

He crawled through an open door into the kitchen and started searching for the child. At first, Stickovich couldn’t find the baby, so he went back outside to ask the mother for guidance.

Then, he bravely entered the inferno once again.

“It was getting so bad in there,” Stickovich said. “I was getting ready to leave actually and then the baby cried or made a sound.”

In those harrowing moments, Stickovich was able to find the child and quickly exit the home.

Firefighters, who said the home was fully engulfed in the inferno by the time they arrived, are now dubbing Stickovich a hero and crediting him for saving the baby’s life.

“I figured I better try,” Stickovich said of his reasons for helping. “Nobody else was here with me. There’s no child that should die in a fire, ever. It didn’t happen today, and that’s a good thing.”

.@ClevelandFire are praising a 62-year-old man who spotted this fire on W 102st & ran in (twice!) to save an 11-month-old twin still inside.

That man told @WEWS “I figured I better try – There’s no child that should die in a fire ever.” pic.twitter.com/RYMklkN75Z

— Clay LePard (@ClayLePard) May 6, 2024

Stickovich, the clear hero of the story, is simply grateful he was able to assist.

“I feel wonderful that I could save the baby, that mother doesn’t have to mourn her baby, that baby gets to live today,” Stickovich told WJW-TV. “I would do it for anybody — it doesn’t matter, and I would hope that somebody would do it for me.”

The fire was reportedly electrical and accidental.