Two who saved man from burning apartment honored

Spokane Valley Fire recognized two young men for pulling a dozing neighbor from a couch ignited by a lit cigarette.

“These guys did a good job, took some initiative and saved a person’s life,” said Valley Fire Chief Mike Thompson said Monday.

On Nov. 18 Josh Bittner and Logan McMackin, both 19, could hear an alarm from their apartment at the 15600 block of East Fourth Avenue. They checked the apartment next to them, found that the front door was locked and called 911 before going in an unlocked sliding glass door in the back.

“The smoke was to the ground. I couldn’t even see,” Bittner said.

They pulled an unresponsive 55-year-old man to safety and doused the couch with water until firefighters arrived.

“That was an experience, that’s for sure,” McMackin said.

The older man was disoriented and treated for smoke inhalation, which fire officials say would have killed him if Bittner and McMackin hadn’t come to his aid.

“These guys are two heroes,” Thompson said.