96-year-old woman helped from burning building in Vancouver
Residents of an apartment building in Vancouver’s West End helped carry a 96-year-old woman down 15 flights of stairs while flames erupted from a suite.
The fire started just after 6 p.m. Thursday inside an apartment on the 14th floor of the building at Comox and Thurlow streets.
Lily O’Hearn, 96, was living directly above and residents at the scene told CTV News Vancouver she was having trouble getting down the stairwell.
“(There were) two people that were trying to carry that lady alone, it was complicated,” said Antonia Chabburt.
He and his cousin, Benjamin, stepped in to help.
“(They were) trying to bring her down stair by stair, luckily we found her on the way,” Benjamin Chabburt said, adding the smoke was so intense it was “absolutely unbreathable.”
O’Hearn made it outside and was looked over by paramedics at the scene. Her daughter, Fran Thomas, arrived shortly after and was seen running up to the building, visibly distressed, before she saw her mother sitting safely in a chair.
“Ninety-six and she hasn’t been out of the house in three years,” Thomas said. “They had to carry her down (from) the 15th storey… how wonderful, what a community. I’m just glad that they took her.”
Assistant Chief Trevor Connelly with Vancouver Fire Rescue Services says the 14th floor unit was “fully involved in fire,” though crews managed to put it out within an hour. It was mostly contained to the one apartment because the door was closed, though apartments above were damaged from flames shooting out the windows.
Despite the intensity of the fire, no one was injured.
“Turns out the occupant had gone out for dinner which is a good thing,” Connelly said. “This is an older building, there’s no sprinklers (and) it’s unclear if it had working smoke detectors at the time.”
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.