Dathen Collins became an unlikely hero Friday when he rushed into a burning apartment to save a man stuck in the blaze by carrying him out on his back.
"I just did what needed to be done," the good Samaritan later told WLKY of the incident. Collins had been passing through the Kentucky neighborhood in search of his uncle's apartment when he came across the fiery blaze at a Powhatan Trail apartment complex. At first he just saw the thick black smoke billowing from the building, but then he noticed a man standing on the second floor balcony.
"It was pretty rough. It was intense black smoke," Collins recalled, according to People. "I was just like, 'Somebody has to do something.'"
Collins ran into the building, mounting the stairs as quickly as he could to reach Mark Hughes, who was disorientated and panicking.
"[He was] just kind of facing the wall, actually," Collins said. "He didn't know where he was. He was lost."
Collins immediately took control of the situation. Ordering Hughes to grab onto his back, he carried him out of the burning building and to his car, where he waited with the fire victim until the fire department arrived.
"I knew he was an older man, so I assumed he had health issues," Collins told WLKY. "I know he was struggling standing in there . . . I grabbed him and walked him out."
Revisiting the incident, Hughes recalled how Collins hauled him to safety.
"He said, 'Just grab hold of my back. I'll take you out.' I said, 'OK,'" he told the station.
The two managed to make it out of the blaze with no serious injuries and their story has touched the heart of the nation.