As flames engulfed his home, Shintaro Tsukamoto could barely smell the smoke from his basement bedroom.

By the time the odour seeped into the room — which had no working fire detector — the entire front entrance of the home was on fire.

The Carleton University student tried to open the back door instead but his hands shook uncontrollably and his eyes burned.

As he fumbled to unlock the door, he collapsed.

"It wasn't until I woke up from adrenaline, or whatever, that I was able to see the lock and get out," he told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning more than one year after the fire.

"There was no pause, no hesitation. I knew I needed to get out.... I wasn't even thinking very much."

A fire broke out late Monday night in a rowhouse complex at 920 Dynes Rd. 0:30

Night of the fire

Two separate fires struck 920 Dynes Rd. and 1077 Dynes Rd. on July 18, 2017.

At the time, the Ottawa Police Service's arson unit called the fires suspicious, saying they were deliberately set and related to each other.

Tsukamoto was living in the basement of 920 Dynes Rd. that summer.

After escaping the fire he was airlifted to a specialized burn unit in Toronto, his lungs full of smoke and 12 per cent of his body covered in severe burns.

Tsukamoto's hands and arms were badly burned, but he's now playing frisbee again. (Deborah MacAskill/CBC)

Tsukamoto said he didn't feel any pain until he finally escaped, and his distraught roommate — who had gotten out of the burning home much quicker — asked him if he was OK.

"That's when I looked down at my arms and hands, and they were just black," he said.

He stayed at Sunnybrook Hospital​ for two months to heal.

Doctors were concerned he wouldn't regain full use of his arms and hands, he said.

Investigators sift through the debris after a 2017 fire at a rowhouse on Dynes Road. Carleton University student Shintaro Tsukamoto lived in a room in the basement, and barely escaped with his life. (Andrew Foote/CBC)

'I missed a year of my life'

Tsukamoto said he's still recovering physically and mentally, but has made great strides.

He has moved back to Ottawa, plays Frisbee again and has started catching up on school at Carleton.

"I was on medication to help me sleep. I still don't quite feel comfortable when I'm home alone ever, and [for] a long time I had nightmares — kind of what if, what if I didn't get out ... what if I never woke up," he said.

I am very lucky that I got out at the time that I did. - Shintaro Tsukamoto

Tsukamoto said he could see his friends "moving on" while he was stuck in the Toronto hospital, and that it motivated him to work hard once he was discharged.

"I never really let this accident be a setback," he said.

Tsukamoto is now cautioning other students looking for cheap housing to think about fire risks. The basement room he was in had no working fire detector, and the windows were too small to escape through.

If he'd been any slower getting out of the room, he said he wouldn't be alive today.

After he moved back to Ottawa, he made it a priority to find a home he feels safe in.

"I am very lucky," Tsukamoto said. "I am very lucky that I got out at the time that I did."

How to protect yourself if you're renting

Marie-Josée Houle — executive director of Action Housing, which advocates for low- and middle-income tenant rights in Ottawa — said it's important for people renting homes to think about fire safety before signing a lease.

Renters should do the following, she said: