Jonathan Davidson leapt to the aid of his neighbours on Saturday night when he heard their cries for help. Two of them are alive thanks to his efforts.

Davidson has chronic lung problems and was sitting by an open window when he heard the cries from the house across the street from his. The house was ablaze, with smoke pouring into the street and flames jetting from the rear of the building.

If that was me, I know somebody would do something for me. - Jonathan Davidson

The small, isolated east-end neighbourhood is near Kenilworth Street and Beach Road and sits in the shadow of the city's industrial zone.

"When someone calls for help around here, you know they mean it," he said.

In that crucial moment, Davidson said what made him to decide to venture into a raging fire was a steadfast belief in the golden rule.

"If that was me, I know somebody would do something for me."

The house fire tore through 191 Grenfell St., a rooming house with five tenants, according to Hamilton firefighters. They report three people who were inside were killed, and two are hospitalized.

'You have to jump'

When Davidson, 41, got outside, he saw that "the house [across the road] was engulfed in smoke and flames," he said.

This is the house, 191 Grenfell Street, on Sunday, the day after the fire. Not much damage is visible from the front because the worst of the fire was at the rear of the building. (Dave Beatty/CBC)

He dashed into the home and pulled out the man who had been crying for help. Leaving him on the sidewalk and telling him to stay put, Davidson approached a woman he said was "hanging out of a second storey window."

He convinced her to jump.

"You have to jump," he shouted to her, and positioned himself so that she landed on top of him, breaking her fall. She and the first man Davidson pulled out are the two survivors.

Davidson went into the burning home again, trying to get to up the stairs. An elderly blind man lived upstairs, he said, the brother of the man Davidson had first brought to the street. But "the smoke was just too thick," he said sadly. "The firefighters dragged me out."

'We're all heroes — we're just humans'

He was not the only neighbour who reacted. The Hamilton Spectator reported that two other neighbours, Sam Blake and Charles Jankevicius, were trying to help as well. Blake had called 911 while Jankevicius got his own ladder and leaned it against the side of the burning house.

"This is a community that looks out for one another," said Davidson.

That community, characterized as a quiet neighbourhood by several residents, was awash with thick smoke coloured blue and red from the lights of countless emergency vehicles, as firefighters, EMS, and police all worked at a feverish pace to address the emergency.

Hamilton firefighters at the scene of a fatal fire on Saturday night. Three people were confirmed dead in the blaze. Three others, including a neighbour, were taken to hospital. (Andrew Collins/CBC)

Despite the hour being late, many residents were out on their front porches and lawns, barefoot and pajama-clad, watching the small army of emergency personnel flooding their street.

Davidson, a Hamilton native and a former chef forced into early retirement by his health issues, said a fitting name for their neighbourhood, a stone's throw from the steel mills, would be "Heaven's Gate."

"No one knows us down here and no one bothers us," he said. "We pretty much have one of the most peaceful neighbourhoods in Hamilton."

Asked why he would risk his own life to help his neighbours, Davidson said:

"The world's become a place where people turn their heads on people who need help. I did it for my children. I just feel that if, every day, we're a little bit better, a little more humane to our fellow people, we'll be a better race and have a better future."

On being a hero, he added, "We're all heroes — we're just humans. And all it takes is a little bit of love to change the world and make it a better place. That's what it takes."

dave.beatty@cbc.ca | @dbeatty