Hero reunited with family after saving infant from house fire

CLEVELAND (WJW) – John Stickovich could have kept driving past a house fire on West 102nd Street on Monday morning. He could have gone straight to work and let the fire department handle it.

But he didn’t. He knew he had to act.

“The smoke was so thick already,” Samantha James, the mother of the baby rescued from the fire, said. “I couldn’t see, I couldn’t breathe and I tried to get Opal and couldn’t find her.”

Stickovich got out of his car and asked James if she was OK. She told him one of her babies, a twin girl named Opal Moon Siska, was still inside the burning home. Without hesitation, Stickovich ran in the home to find the child.

His first attempt to find the infant was unsuccessful, but he would not stop trying.

“The fact that he went in once, twice, it’s incredible,” James said. “He is our guardian angel.”

He located the 11-month-old child seconds before he was about to give up. He heard the child make a noise, reached out and grabbed the baby by her leg, pulling her to safety, saving her life.

“Thank God John Stickovich was on scene. He was very brave that morning,” Cleveland Fire Lieutenant Michael Norman said.

On Thursday, the Cleveland Division of Fire reunited the family with Stickovich, thanking him for his heroic and selfless efforts.

Stickovich knows this rescue goes well beyond a right place, right time scenario.

“I’m sure God had something to do with it,” Stickovich said. “I believe that 100%. If I wasn’t guided when I was in that smoke, I never would have found her.”

Two Cleveland firefighters were also trapped under the front porch when it came tumbling down on top of them. Ryan Ross was able to crawl out, but Pete Mauric was trapped under the wreckage. Sustaining burns on his leg and an injured ankle, but he’s expected to recover and return to duty.

“There can’t be enough good things said about John,” Mauric said. “It takes a lot of guts to do what he did. And we’re all just very thankful that he was there. Specifically for myself, I’m just very thankful for all my coworkers, my brothers behind me who were able to get me out of trouble when I ended up there.”

James said Opal sustained several injuries during the fire, including smoke inhalation.

“She has some real light burns to the top of her head,” James said. “She has a burn on her cheek, on her arm and her knee. But for as rapidly fast as that fire burned, it’s incredible that she is unscathed. This is pretty much unscathed.”

James said she will heal from her burns and is already back to being her playful self. For that and for Stickovich, she’s thankful beyond measure.

Stickovich wants to stay in touch with the family as the twins grow up.

“I’m sure we will be,” Stickovich said. “I definitely have to make sure and check on the babies through their life to make sure they’re OK. Like they say, it’s like a guardian angel, I guess. I’ve got to check.”