At one time, Montag blindly let the ways of the society and culture around him be his guide. However montag has a sense of right and wrong you could even say a moral compass. He begins to increasingly think for himself and for what he truly believes. This is his first heroic act of any real consequence. He has made a conscious choice to think beyond what the totalitarian regime tells him and others to think.
He is a hero in taking action that is opposed to society's