Former UFC Fighter Mark Coleman has a new opponent now -- fire.
His new title is fire safety advocate, a role he's embraced since he nearly died last month in a house fire after saving his parents.
Coleman recalled his dog waking him about 4 a.m. in his parents' Freemont home. The room was very warm and he thought he was having a nightmare. But he saw smoke as he headed to the kitchen, WTOL reported adding that there were no smoke alarms.
When a doorknob burned his hand, he immediately thought about his parents down the hall. He had to get them out.
He got them out of bed when the didn't answer his screams. He lost track of his mother as he guided them down the hall.
"That was a sick, sick feeling. I told him 'Get outside, I'll go get her,'" he said adding that she has asthma.
“I got lost and I thought to myself, 'She's not going to make it. I don't think we are going to make it.'"
After getting her to safety, he returned to get his dog.
“No hesitation. It wasn't an option. To me that was the only option."
“I sat up and the smoke hit me hard and I realized I gotta go now. When I stood up I fell off. I almost went down right there,” he said.
He was flown to a hospital in Toledo where he was in a coma for several days.
On Tuesday, he visited Columbus Fire Station 30 with an old wrestling buddy, Columbus Fire Chief Jeff Happ.
Coleman is on a mission to get people to understand the importance of having working smoke alarms in their houses.
He is joining Happ and other firefighters to promote fire safety -- something that's become his passion.
“How important it is to check your batteries and have your fire detectors ready to roll in case this happens to you because tomorrow is not promised. It has a new meaning to me."
