North Vancouver firefighter awarded medal of bravery for rescuing elderly woman from burning apartment

A North Vancouver firefighter was honoured on Monday for risking his life to save an elderly woman who was trapped in an apartment fire.

Captain Kit Little was part of a team of firefighters who battled a blaze that devoured a North Vancouver apartment building last July.

Dozens of residents managed to escape the building safely, but a woman in her 80s was trapped on an upper-floor balcony.

Little took it upon himself to make sure the woman and her dog made it out alive.

WATCH: North Vancouver apartment fire

2:46 North Vancouver apartment fire leaves residents with nowhere to go

To rescue the woman, Little took off his helmet so he could fit through a narrow opening to get to a ladder. He also removed his breathing apparatus, which could have acted as a counterweight pulling on him. He then climbed to the very top rung of the ladder and brought the woman to safety.

Once she was safe, he went back up the ladder to retrieve her dog.

At an award ceremony held Monday, B.C. Fire Commissioner Gordon Anderson said, “Captain Little made these decisions in a matter of seconds and he had the courage to carry out this rescue despite the very significant and real risk to himself.”

Anderson awarded Little the B.C. Firefighter Medal of Bravery, a rare honour that has only been given out twice in the past decade.

“It was something that happened in just a blink of an eye,” Little said of the rescue. “People were asking me, ‘Oh, was the person heavy?’ And I honestly can’t answer. I don’t remember. We had a problem we had to fix to save somebody’s life and we just did what we had to do to get it done.”

“I’m very proud,” Little’s girlfriend Anita Trip said. “He’s amazing. In his whole career he’s done probably a million amazing things and this is just one that’s been caught on camera.”

– With files from Jennifer Palma