Share Tweet By Billy Hallowell Editor
April 13, 2023
A 74-year-old grandpa of 16 is speaking out weeks after he selflessly rescued a woman trapped inside a fiery hotel room.
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Greg Spike was on a run in Eugene, Oregon, Feb. 28, when he saw smoke billowing from a building.
His morning run which reportedly took a different route that day and placed him at the right place, at the right time quickly morphed into a rescue mission when he approached the flame-ridden, second-floor balcony of the hotel room at the Valley River Inn and began filming the scene on his phone.
As Spike got closer, a woman began screaming for help and that’s when he jumped into action.
“I started yelling at her, ‘Get out of there! Get out of there!’” Spike told Inside Edition. “I thought, ‘OK, I’m going to help her down somehow.’”
He began coaxing the woman, a native of Illinois named Stacy Barkley who was in town visiting family, to jump and pledged to break her fall:
“I thought if she could get over the railing and just fall and hit me, I could break her fall,” Spike explained.
At some point, he put his phone in his pocket during the rescue, but audio continued to capture what he said and did to ensure Barkley was safe.
“Hit me, hit me, come on, come on hurry!” he implored the trapped woman. “I got ya!”
Barkley was able to get down, with Spike breaking her fall. She immediately expressed heartfelt gratitude.
“Thank you,” she said. “You saved me.”
Barkley later told USA Today Spike “didn’t even hesitate” to help and “ran right over.” She also shared her own rendition of events, including how she began to panic once she realized the hotel was ablaze.
Fortunately, Spike was there to save the day.
“Its hard to thank someone that saved you in that way, but he didn’t hesitate to answer my plea for help,” Barkley told USA Today. “It was very kind of him.”
Despite the blaze devolving into a three-alarm fire, there were reportedly no serious injuries. Spike himself only suffered bruised ribs during his bold rescue.
As for his 16 grandkids, they all believe he’s a bold hero.
“I was really proud of my grandpa, that he would have that quick-thinking and put himself into harm’s way,” one grandson said. Another added, “He’s a superhero like Batman.”
Watch the touching tributes to Spike:
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