A 54-year-old surveyor whose quick thinking saved the life of an elderly, disabled Wilhelmina Rise woman trapped by fire in her bedroom will be honored by the Red Cross on Saturday.

On April 27, fire officials said, Carl Loando’s quick actions in crawling through black smoke saved the life of Helen Choy, who was in a wheelchair and tethered to an oxygen bottle when a fire broke out in her home.

"I will always feel that my life has been forever changed by this event," Loando said. "There’s a delicate balance in life. In a matter of a few minutes, she could have lost her life. I now have a deep respect for safety and life in general."

Loando will be among numerous heroes honored by the Red Cross at 10 a.m. Saturday during a breakfast ceremony at the Waikiki Marriott Hotel. Other community heroes include Master Sgt. Chandra Davis, Honolulu firefighter Wesley Pratt, Althea Cunningham and poi dog Mai Tai. Red Cross Volunteer of the Year Heroes are Diane and Rick Phillips, Joyce Memmer, John Yates III, Tom Worthington and Elaine Albertson.

Immediately after the fire, Loando told the Star-Advertiser, "Don’t make me out to be a hero. I don’t know what prompted me to go in there."

In an interview Monday, Loando again credited the actions of his team of field surveyors — Noel Ibe and Christopher Newman — in saving the lives of Kenneth and Helen Choy, who lived at 3953 Koko Drive. The three were doing a boundary survey nearby when they noticed smoke coming out of the Choys’ house.

As Loando ran toward the house just after 8 a.m., Ibe called the Honolulu Fire Department.

"Hey, is anyone home? The house is on fire," Loando remembers calling out at the time. "I kept yelling this as loud as I could so that others could hear it."

Richard Choy was walking from the carport to the house.

Loando said he told Choy, "Get away from there. The side of the house is on fire!"

"By this time the flames were visible. The smoke was pushing out of the doorway and into his face."

Choy told Loando that he was trying to get his wife out of the house but that he dropped her.

Loando told Newman to help the husband to safety while he went in to look for Helen Choy.

"As I approached the door, I got down low and away from the smoke coming out of the door to see if I could see her," Loando said. "It was black and smoke kept pouring out. I could hear a faint voice saying, ‘Save me, save me.’

"I took in some air and started to crawl in towards the voice. She didn’t say anything again. And, I gave up my breath of air to yell, ‘Where … Where are you?’

"I again heard her say, ‘Save me,’ as I kept crawling towards the voice. I don’t know how far I crawled in, as I was crawling pretty quickly. But suddenly I felt her hand touch my arm. As I grabbed it, I felt my hand sink into her skin. Something told me, ‘Don’t let go.’"

Loando said he was hampered in his efforts to move Choy because she was still tethered to an oxygen tank.

"I tried dragging her on the floor first and abandoned that. So, in the darkness of the smoke, I stood up, holding on to her. I could see the glow of orange from the fire through the black smoke. Hearing the glass breaking, and wood starting to crackle, I stood up and dragged her all the way out the door and down the wheelchair ramp."

With Newman’s help the two broke the oxygen tubing and carried the woman to the edge of the carport.

Two other men aided Newman in taking Helen Choy to the street while Loando tried to get his breath back after inhaling so much black smoke.

Then, Loando noticed that where the three men and Choy were standing was directly below the power utility pole that supplied the house with electricity.

"As I looked at the connection to the house, the line was already starting to arc. I yelled at the top of my lungs, ‘The flames are heading for the power line! Get out of there!’"

The three men picked up Helen Choy and moved her farther up the street.

"No sooner did they find a safe spot, the power line broke away from the house and landed right where they had been standing. I thought to myself, ‘Oh, my God. They were just standing there. They would have been electrocuted.’"

Within seconds the first of several explosions occurred.

"At each explosion there was a big ball of fire. It was enormous. I kept thinking, ‘Oh, my God. I was just in that house.’"

Loando also had to be taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.

Loando said he visited Helen Choy at the Queen’s Medical Center the same day of the fire, but several months later he wasn’t able to find out what had happened to her because the hospital would not release any information to him, as he is not a relative.

Fire officials attributed the cause of the fire to an overloaded electrical power strip on an enclosed lanai. A freezer, an exercise treadmill and other items were plugged into the strip. Damage estimates were $360,000 to the home and $50,000 to the Choys’ belongings.