Eric Howe awoke in his Salt Lake City hospital bed this morning hoping the skin grafts on his arms take better than last time. His nasal feeding tube was removed Sunday and he has been walking laps around his hospital floor. The best parts of his days are when he gets new bandages around the burns that cover 31 percent of his body.

During the day, he stretches to prevent his skin from tightening up, lifts light weights to regain strength and talks for hours to his girlfriend, Ashley Tallamdge, who went home Monday after visiting for the first time during the weekend. He no longer passes out from the unrelenting pain he endures during the frequent, intensive scrubbing of his blisters. Such is the daily routine of a hero.

Howe was the only person severely burned in the Dec. 11 fire at Pine Tree Plaza in Troy. Not only did Howe sacrifice his well-being to save his girlfriend and three-year-old son, Jaxson, he also risked his life by reentering the burning building to notify other sleeping tenants.

Sleeping beside his girlfriend of four years, Howe jumped out of bed at about 12:30 a.m. when he heard his son knocking on his parent’s bedroom door and yelling that the house was on fire. Howe noticed an orange glow on his bedroom door and quickly sensed the intensity of the heat. Howe huddled his family underneath him as he opened their apartment’s front door, shielding them from a blazing backdraft that scorched his arms, back, neck and head.

After getting his girlfriend and son to safety, Howe turned and ran back into the building. He said he would be right back, but his words were lost in the chaos.

“I was looking for a fire extinguisher, but it got so hot so fast that I couldn’t find it,” Howe, 30, said. “I warned a woman with a child who lived above me of the fire below. I ran across the hallway and told my landlords. Then I told an elderly man across the hallway.”

Howe attempted to exit the building through the front entryway, but found it locked. As he ran through his long, narrow apartment, a wave of heat struck his face and knocked him to the ground. As he exited into a side alleyway, he noticed his left arm bubbling.

That day Howe was transported to the University of Utah Burn Center in Salt Lake City. He suffered first-, second- and third-degree burns, the worst on his back, neck and left arm. His left hand is burned so badly it required a special graft. Howe’s doctors say it will be eight-to-12 months before he can return to work as a timber framer.

“It’s going to be a real stuggle,” Tallmadge said. “We lived paycheck to paycheck already. I’m looking into working more, but you can only do so much.”

Tallmadge said her boyfriend looks better than she expected and tells him he his handsome every day. Still, she notices something different about his face. She can’t pointpoint the change, but it made her cry.

“Maybe it is the medicine, and it will get better,” Tallmadge said.

Howe’s  health and searching for a new place to live fill most of her time. Still, she does have one request. If anyone has seen a tan mastiff/boxer mix dog, Tallmadge is looking for him. Tallmadge saw him running around town the other day. His name is Toj and was believed lost in the fire.