EDMONTON -- An Edmonton man who ran into a burning home to rescue a person trapped inside earlier this year was recognized for his heroic actions on Thursday.

Single father of two Dale Parkin was one of 23 Albertans awarded by the Royal Canadian Human Association.

On May 17, Parkin was on his way to work when he heard screams for help from a townhouse on fire in the Holyrood neighbourhood.

"Help, fire! Help, fire! Help, fire!" Parkin remembers hearing. "I turned around and I looked and I saw smoke."

With help from a second passerby, Parkin broke down the front door but was unable to get down to the basement because the "flames were too big and too hot."

They instead went to a second door and broke through, calling to the man inside.

"After a couple minutes, he started making his way upstairs. We could see him, because the smoke was about two feet off the ground, and he was lost. He was stumbling around," Parkin said.

"So I just ran into the smoke until I hit him, and then I just backed out.  And I ended up burning my hair and my beard and my mustache."

While he hasn't been in touch with the residents since, Parkin has been told they're OK and the trapped man had been expected to recover without any long-term effects.

After the incident, as the community hailed him a hero, Parkin said, "The hero is Superman … I’m just a normal guy who was trying to help out a situation."

On Thursday, he said that hasn't changed.

"I don't consider myself a hero. The real heroes are the first responders: police, fire, ambulance. The guys that go and do this every day. Every day they go and do it, knowing they're going to be in danger."

Lieutenant Governor Lois Mitchel, as Provincial Patron of the RCHA, presented Parkin and the others with the bravery award.

The recipients were from Edmonton, Ardrossan, Athabasca, Calgary and Cochrane.

With files from CTV Edmonton's Dan Grummett and Diego Romero