A teenager and the man who saved from a tent wrapped in flames is forming an unlikely friendship.
Zeke Fox, 17, dragged Shawn Goodwin to a safe place on the night of January 5 when a fire destroyed the 53 -year -old man camp in Bayfront Park in Hamilton.
Since then, Fox has visited Goodwin several times in the burning unit of the Hamilton General Hospital and plans to continue doing so.
“I felt very close to him after the fire,” Fox said in an interview. “You go through something like that with someone and you feel that you are almost familiar.”
CBC previously reported on Fox’s actions, which earned him a certificate of recommendation by Mayor Andrea Horwath for his “extraordinary courage.”
Recently, Fox and Goodwin talked to CBC Hamilton from the Hospital of the Hospital while recovering severe burns on the chest, back and arm.
Goodwin said Fox is a special person and that he also wants to keep friendship.
“Not many people run to a fire,” said Goodwin.
Goodwin said he had been living in Bayfront Park for about two years. The night of the fire, he had slept around 11 pm, and the next thing he remembers was that Fox took him out of the burning tent.
Goodwin said he doesn’t know what caused the fire.
The store became ‘massive fireball’
Fox drove home from a friend’s house when he saw a cloud of black smoke. He said he parked his car, tracked the smoke to a tent, called his mother and told him to call 911.
“There were some small pops and then the store rose in a mass fireball right in front of me,” Fox said. “I heard Shawn scream, and that was when I knew I had to help him.”
Fox said he ran, opened the store door and found a heat explosion. He found Goodwin trapped under a canvas and released him quickly, dragged him outside and made him shoot in the snow.
Police and paramedics arrived shortly after and took them to different hospitals.
Fox said he was having problems breathing, and had scratches and marks on his face and arms. He was discharged about five hours after McMaster Children’s Hospital.
But with memories of fire and what could have gone wrong running through his mind, Fox said he intended to connect with the man he had saved.
When he saw Goodwin again, they soon discovered that they both love the outdoors. Fox realized that he had seen him in the park before.
“When I was fishing there, he came and sat next to the water,” Fox said. “We have a lot in common, surprisingly.”
In the housing waiting list for years
Goodwin said he has experienced the lack of housing for years. The lack of affordable housing and addiction options played a role, he said, and pointed out that he has been sober for a while and has been on the city’s housing waiting list for almost a decade.
“My hope is to enter some kind of housing, something in which I can close my door and get away and feel safe,” he said. “That’s all I want.”
Goodwin’s father, George Goodwin, 81, lives in Cornwall, Ontario, and told CBC Hamilton that he received a police call that informed him about the fire. The couple has talked on the phone every day since then.
He is accustomed to Goodwin appearing in his life and then disappears for a while, but he hopes his son will stay with him to recover and then find some type of housing.
Fox rescuing Goodwin is “quite remarkable,” George said.
Fox has been raising funds to help Goodwin in his recovery and will continue to visit him every time he has an opportunity.
He graduated from high school this year and said his goal is to become a police officer.
“That feeling knowing that I helped Shawn when there was no one but I could, that solidified for me.”
