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
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.