One Tuesday morning, Greg Spike, 74, jogged a shorter path than he typically would.
“I didn’t have much time to go up into the hills,” Spike told USA TODAY.
It turns out, the grandfather of 16 was in the right place at the right time to become a hero.
Spike saw smoke ahead on his running trail along the Willamette River in Eugene, Oregon – smoke from a fire at a hotel, where Illinois native Stacy Barkley was staying while visiting family.
The three-alarm fire at the Valley River Inn on Feb. 28 ignited on the second floor late that morning before spreading to the third floor, reported the Register-Guard, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Spike filmed the blaze on his phone as he jogged when he heard a woman cry for help, KVAL CBS 13 reported. It was Barkley. Spike jumped into action.
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“He didn’t even hesitate – he ran right over,” Barkley told USA TODAY.
‘Hallway was filled with smoke’
Barkley began her day Feb. 28 working on a crafting project from her Valley River Inn room while her husband of 35 years, Donald, visited his sister in Eugene.
The grandparents had flown from Deerfield, Illinois, to spend time with their son and pregnant daughter-in-law, who live in Vancouver, Washington.
As Barkley sat on the bed watching television, she thought she heard a faint alarm.
“When I opened the door, the hallway was filled with smoke,” she said.
She closed the door and called her husband, who told his wife to leave, but the smoke outside rattled her.
“I didn’t want to get disoriented, I didn’t know where the fire was,” Barkley said.
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Barkley followed her husband’s advice to close the door and put a towel underneath. When she walked to the balcony, she saw flames racing from the adjacent room – and she began to panic.
‘He was there to save me’
Barkley grabbed some belongings, put on her coat and shoes and returned to the patio door, where she felt the fire’s intense heat.
“I was afraid to go out there, but at that point, I wasn’t sure what else to do,” she said.
That’s when she saw a jogger – Spike – on the walking path.
Spike yelled: “Get out! Get out!” But Barkley told him smoke was engulfing the hallway. Spike ran toward the building and told Barkley to drop her bags before she lowered herself down.
“I said, ‘Come on, hit me, hit me,’” Spike said. “I was trying to tell her I would break her fall.”
Barkley climbed over the railing and lowered herself as much as possible until she could touch Spike.
“He just said ‘jump,’ so I did, and he was there to save me,” she said.
After the rescue, Spike consoled the frightened woman, who can be seen in the video wearing a KN95 mask. “You’re OK now, deep breaths,” he said.
“Thank you!” Barkley told her rescuer as the two hugged, shortly before her sister-in-law and husband joined them. “Oh my God, you saved me,” Barkley said to Spike.
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They plan to reunite
The heroic video clip was shared on social media, and Barkley’s daughter reached out to Spike’s son.
“That’s how I got in contact with Greg and the local news,” said Barkley, who reunited virtually with Spike via a Zoom interview with KVAL CBS 13.
“What really hit me was she said it kept going through her mind that she would never see her (unborn) grandson,” said Spike, who was commended for his actions by the Eugene Springfield Fire Department.
Barkley expects to return to the Pacific Northwest in June when the baby is born, and she and Spike plan to meet. Meanwhile, Barkley sent her rescuer a thank-you note – along with the bunny cross-stitch design she had been working on when the blaze ignited.
“It’s hard to thank someone that saved you in that way, but he didn’t hesitate to answer my plea for help,” Barkley said. “It was very kind of him.”