Heroes among us: Nova Scotia honours four men for their bravery

Without hesitation.

That’s how Talbot Boyer acted when he spotted an overturned vehicle on fire along his bus route in downtown Halifax on Jan. 29, 2021. 

When the Halifax Transit operator stopped the bus and approached the vehicle on its roof on Valour Way, Boyer could hear a man screaming for help from inside the burning vehicle. 

Boyer called 911, but as the fire raged on, Boyer feared the man wouldn’t be able to escape the vehicle. 

The bus driver tried to open the vehicle’s doors, but they wouldn’t budge, so he decided to smash the side window.

After using snow to extinguish the man’s legs that were on fire, Boyer grabbed and dragged the man out of the vehicle.

Soon after, a Halifax Regional Police officer arrived and helped Boyer move the man further from the vehicle before it exploded. 

Boyer’s story of heroism circled social media shortly after the incident happened and resurfaced in the red chambers at Province House on Wednesday as he and Scott Buchanan, Adam Lefort and Robert McGregor were awarded the Nova Scotia Medal of Bravery. 

“The thing that makes this province the best is the people and they’re an example of that right here,” Premier Tim Houston said at the award presentation. 

Houston highlighted Boyer, Buchanan, Lefort and McGregor all had one thing in common – They didn’t hesitate to help when they saw a person in need.

Even at the age of 16, Lefort jumped in to help a woman who found herself in troubled waters on the Margaree River on June 22, 2021. 

Lefort, who was tubing with his mom and friends, noticed a woman had fallen out of her tube after it became caught on tree branches. 

“Despite strong currents and without hesitation, Mr. Lefort went into the water and brought the woman to the surface,” Attorney General Brad Johns recounted before Lefort was presented with his award.

“He held onto her with one arm while holding onto a tree branch with the other to prevent her from floating away until help arrived.”

And Lefort, of Grand Étang, wasn’t the only Cape Bretoner to jump into the water to help a person in distress.  

Buchanan, an off-duty volunteer firefighter in Baddeck, didn’t have personal protective gear or life-saving equipment when he jumped into more than two metres of water to help a man and his step-daughter who had fallen through the ice at Uisge Ban Falls Provincial Park in Baddeck on Feb. 17, 2020.

Buchanan shielded the pair from “the force of the waterfall” for about 20 minutes, preventing them from being swept away by the current, while waiting for help to arrive.

Buchanan’s bravery award is the second time he’s been formally acknowledged for the rescue. He recently received the RCMP’s commissioner commendation.

Similar to Boyer and Lefort, McGregor knew he had to help when he saw a house on fire as he and his wife drove toward Truro on Highway 1 on June 11, 2020. 

“The thing that makes this province the best is the people and they’re an example of that right here.” 

– Premier Tim Houston

While his wife called 911, McGregor, a retired RCMP officer who lives in Economy, noticed there was a person in the building who appeared to be alive but was on fire and trapped inside. 

“He was able to extinguish the flames on the individual and attempted to pull them out of the home,” Johns said. “However, overcome by smoke and unable to breathe, Mr. McGregor had to leave to get air.” 

While waiting for first responders, McGregor tried to rescue the person twice, but was unable to locate them due to the smoke and heat from the fire. The person was unfortunately found dead inside the home when police arrived. 

But Houston commended McGregor and the other three recipients for their efforts and persistence. 

“It’s fair to say that not everyone would have reacted the way that you did. And I know that each of you would tell me, ‘I just did what anyone would do,’” Houston said.

“You did things that most people wouldn’t do and you did it with determination and persistence to save somebody.” 

Johns said the medal of bravery advisory committee had difficulty making decisions through the selection process and thanked the other Nova Scotians who were nominated for their bravery.