Troy native receives honor for fire rescue

Standing on an extension ladder outside of a burning building in Renton, Wash., Mike Bain encouraged a man trapped on the second floor to remain calm.

Seconds later, a huge charge of smoke forced its way out of the window. The man in that window, Dean Bradshaw, was done talking and he nose-dived toward the extension ladder. Bain was there to catch him.

“I was about halfway up the ladder,” Bain said. “He literally just squirted right out of the window and hit me right in the chest. I had just looked up to tell him to be calm.”

Bain, 33, born and raised in Troy, has worked for the Renton Fire Department for nine years. Bain’s actions on June 11 of last year caught the attention of the American Red Cross. He will be honored as a Red Cross “Everyday Hero” during a special breakfast event on March 11 in Seattle.

“On one hand, it’s humbling and I really appreciate what the Red Cross does,” Bain said when asked for his reaction to the honor. “As far as the award, I was doing my job. That’s what we get paid to do. … I appreciate everything but honestly, I’m just looking forward for this to die out and get back to the business of doing our job.”

On the evening of June 11, one of the oldest buildings in Renton went up in flames. The structure served as a boarding house with seven rooms occupied by residents. Two businesses were located in the building as well – a comic book store and a vacuum/locksmith establishment.

On that day, Bain was working out of Fire Station 11 – which serves as the department’s headquarters. He was riding on an engine following participation in a community event to wrap up what had been a long day. Then a call came over the radio – “smoke investigation.”

“In our world, that’s a red herring kind of thing,” Bain said. “We chase a lot of those and a lot of times, it’s something like someone barbecuing. We kind of halfway put our stuff on and rolled around the corner.”

The call was located just three blocks from the station. Upon arrival, each firefighter went into high gear with the smoke investigation now designated as a commercial/residential fire.

“In the midst of pulling out our hose … I noticed a gentleman kind of frantically signaling to us from the second-floor window,” Bain said. “We went into rescue mode.”

Fellow firefighter Roy Luquette helped Bain set up the extension ladder. With the ladder about halfway up, Bain started talking to the trapped resident.

“I was telling him to be calm and he was yelling back at me how calm he was,” Bain said. “Then a big charge of smoke came out of the window. He decided he’d rather take his chances outside than in.”

The nose-dive followed and Bain was ready.

“Like an eel, he came down the ladder at me and hit me in mid-chest,” Bain said. “He was not a big man – I got him, spun around and we went down the ladder. By the time I got him on the ground, it was probably two minutes.”

The blaze turned out to be a five-alarm fire and went down as the biggest in Renton’s history. The Red Cross became involved immediately to help the boarding house residents.

“Those people do a lot of work, put in a lot of hours to help people at disasters and emergencies,” Bain said. “They had gotten on scene … and were already working to get the displaced residents into hotels and helped with refreshments.”

A 1994 graduate of Troy High School, Bain continued his education at the University of Montana and earned a bachelor’s degree in recreation management. A few years out of college, he started his job with the Renton Fire Department in 2001.

Bain said his abilities fit well with the job and he enjoys doing what he can to help people.

“I get to see a lot of different people and everything’s different … every shift is different, every call is different,” Bain said. “It’s very gratifying to feel like in some miniscule way that I’m able to help. And that’s a very rewarding part of the job.”