DUNCAN — Angela Day saw black smoke billowing from the apartment across the hall and heard a young woman screaming for her baby.
“She was saying ‘My baby. My baby,’ ” the Parkland Place tenant recalled Monday, standing outside the fire-damaged apartment building at 620 Dobson Rd. in Duncan.
“I tried to go in and it was too hot and smoky so I ran around the side … I was screaming ‘Help. Help. Help.’ People realized it wasn’t a false alarm.”
The young woman, who awakened to a room full of flames, was disoriented and thought a child was in the suite, said Day. Fortunately, the woman’s brother had taken the child earlier while she was sleeping.
“It was terrifying, terrifying. I thought there was a baby in there,” said Day, who thanked firefighters for their bravery in going into the smoke-filled building and rescuing people.
Thirteen people, including one firefighter, were taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation because of the Sunday fire.
On Monday, Duncan Assistant Fire Chief Wray Watson said his firefighter was back at work and he believed all the residents taken to hospital have been released.
This was the second large fire at the building. In January 2014, 100 residents were displaced for several days after fire broke out in a third-floor apartment.
This time, fire broke out in a ground-floor apartment and spread up the exterior of the building through balconies and got into the roof on the fourth floor. Duncan volunteer firefighters received assistance from Cowichan Bay and North Cowichan South End firefighters.
The cause is not yet known, Watson said.
The building was evacuated and about 100 tenants are either staying with family or friends or were taken to a reception centre set up by the Cowichan Valley Regional District at the Island Savings Centre. All residents will be displaced until utilities are restored, probably Thursday, said Watson.
On Monday afternoon, Ryta Brawley sat outside the reception centre, in new cosy grey sweats.
“All the fears came back from the first fire. It reignites that whole panic. Those bells start ringing and the heart goes up. And yet you have to fight that to get people out and to get yourself and pets out safely,” said Brawley.
“What I’m amazed at in this building is how everybody gets out. Everybody helps somebody get out. We may be low on the totem pole in terms of poverty but people fail to see us beyond that. What they need to see is the courage it took for everybody to get everybody handicapped out. I’m celebrating that.”
Residents are terrified and wondering where they are going to go, said Brawley. She has been trying to reassure them the community is generous and will help.
Kathy and George Chapman, who lost everything in Sunday’s fire, also sat in the sunshine outside the centre.
“There was panic coming down the stairs,” said George. “You couldn’t see where you were going. It’s a wonder someone didn’t pass out with the smoke and the panic.” The firefighters were excellent, he said.
“We were right beside the fire. Very damaged,” said Kathy, a worried look on her face. “We won’t be able to get back in there. We have to look for a place to live. I feel overwhelmed right now. Everything’s just up in the air.”
The Chapmans are one of the few tenants who have renters’ insurance. They got it after the last fire.
John Elzinga, general manager of community services for the Cowichan Valley Regional District, said one-quarter of the 128 units were severely damaged. The district is providing meals and accommodation for those who have nowhere else to sleep.
“We’re trying to help with transportation and counselling,” said Elzinga. “It’s traumatic, dealing with people experiencing tragedy. Various people have various needs and so we’re dealing with individuals on a case-by-case basis.”
Emergency program co-ordinator Sybille Sanderson said the biggest thing that people are going to need is a new place to live.
“Residents of one-quarter of the building will not be able to go back for quite a few months. And our vacancy rate is almost zero,” said Sanderson.
On Monday afternoon, residents on the undamaged side of the building were escorted back to their apartments to get essentials.
Firefighters will try to retrieve essentials such as medication from the badly damaged apartments, Sanderson said.
