The historic fire raged weeks before. Still, a bonfire smell lingered.

Kevin Leeser took time off from his job as a registered nurse at the University of Michigan Health System to lead volunteers raking through ashes in burned-out basements in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

They discovered something greater than gold.

“It was a whole tin full of World War II medals. They were all singed,” Leeser says. The medals belonged to a former gunnery sergeant.

“You found it. That’s all we need,” the family told Leeser and his crew.

“I pretty much started bawling at that point,” he says.

Leeser started with UMHS in 2014. He also volunteers with the veteran-based disaster relief group, Team Rubicon. He joined the recent effort to help residents of the Alberta town devastated by the wildfire.

Back at University Hospital, Leeser helps patients in the 20-bed 8D Intermediate Care Unit. Critical patients, several on assisted-breathing machines or other monitored devices, await procedures or are taking a first step toward recovery following surgery.

Leeser’s shift begins at 7 p.m. First, staff present an update on patients. “We then go in and do an assessment — take vitals, check the computer and the drips and fluids they are getting, and then administer meds,” he says.

Patients are recovering from conditions ranging from trauma to burns to lung and heart transplants.

Beyond monitoring conditions, Leeser at times comforts patients. Some are facing death. He recalls the young patient who faced her last day. She asked him to stay with her that morning until her relatives arrived, and he did. He held her hand and told her about his kids, and showed her a picture of the sunrise that morning that he took on his phone.

“It’s about as heavy duty of a situation as you can imagine,” Leeser says.

For the past year, Leeser also has been volunteering to go into disaster areas with Team Rubicon. After getting the call to volunteer in late May, Leeser checked with his wife, Lauren Miller, and children Evelyn, 6, and Lou, 3, and was off to Alberta.

He was assigned to lead a team of locals who had to navigate unstable ground, climbing down ladders into burned-out basements, searching for valuables.

“You go through with a rake and see if you can find anything, raking on hands and knees. You’re hoping to find precious things the families wanted to keep, like a photograph anything that could endure that heat,” he says.

Leeser headed a crew of five. “I had to teach them how to suit up in the white Tyvek suits, test respirators, and simply how to be careful in ‘the pit.'”

After discovering the tin, one of the volunteers pried it open, slowly, to reveal the medals. They had green and white ribbons, characteristic of the Canadian Armed Forces.

“He headed back in ‘the pit’ to look for more,” Leeser says. But the family was satisfied.

Alberta wasn’t Leeser’s first trip west. The Rochester native once lived in Los Angeles, pursuing work as a filmmaker. He produced films used on crime-focused reality TV shows on A&E, Nat Geo and others. Leeser also produced films in Chicago and Detroit, including the half-hour 2004 Lily Tomlin documentary “Lily’s Detroit.”

“She’s a great storyteller,” he says.

He explains his drive to help others: “It’s because I can, and because I’m good at improvising, and controlling my emotions during intense moments. I was gifted with two incredible flawless children, so I’m just trying to pay someone back for that.”

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