Fearless Andrei Odorico and his friend Giancarlo Torino are among those have been honoured by Canada's Governor General for their bravery three years ago.
On November 5, 2011 Odorico and Torino risked their lives to save two people stuck inside an apartment building fire on St. John’s Blvd. near Douglas Shand in Pointe Claire.
“We left the building, we came out through the front entrance and that's when we heard the mom on the balcony screaming 'help help!'. We heard that she had children,” he told CTV Montreal Friday.
Odorico rescued a boy and ran back in to save an elderly man in a wheelchair. He was prevented from re-entering a third time by thick smoke.
Over 50 recipients were honoured in the ceremony at the Citadelle in Quebec City.
Odorico only regrets not being able to do more, as a 14-year-old boy and his mother died .
“There's always 'what if's.' That's the only regret. We wish we could have gone up again. Or had I been there longer or had more time to think we would have known how to get them out,” he said.
He has remained friends with the father and a the son that he helped ferry out..
“I just really wanted to help him out, and make him continue being a normal boy even though the tragic events,” said Odorinco.
He credits the event for changing his life. “A couple of months after the fire, I left the job I was working at, I went back to school. I wanted to pursue a career.”
