A man was rescued from the third floor of a burning apartment building on Maryland Street, Monday afternoon. 

George Moose was volunteering his time at Living Word Church in the North End and was just heading home.

As he was driving down Maryland, Moose said he could see a little bit of smoke coming out of the building. "I pulled over to see what was going on and when I got out of my truck I could hear someone yelling, so I ran across the street to see what it was."

Video courtesy of George Moose

He said he followed the voice and thought maybe the person was trapped in the stairs as the stairs looked like they were boarded off. "Is somebody behind there?" Moose asked the voice. "No, no, I'm around the corner,"  Moose said that he went around the side and saw someone hanging out of a third-floor window.

"God puts you where you need to be at that moment and I just happened to be needed at that moment"

Moose said he told the man not to jump and that he would get someone to help him. He got the man to grab a wire and crawl down and reassured him that if he fell, he would catch him.

The man was able to crawl down enough so Moose could grab his feet and help him down.

Moose said he then started yelling to see if there were any more people in the building but didn't hear anything else.

"Smoke started coming out," Moose said, "so I kind of just went across the street . . . and then I left."

Moose said he feels fine, and didn't think much of it, but said: "God puts you where you need to be at that moment and I just happened to be needed at that moment, at that place on my way home."

Street closure:

Maryland Street and McGee Street are both closed between Ellice and St. Matthews as a result of the fire. The Winnipeg Police Service says they expect the closure to remain well into the afternoon rush hour.