NB Telegraph-Journal | Saint John
As published on page A1/A2 on December 8, 2005
Two killed in Saint John blaze
Two others injured in fire in city's South End
Click to zoom (Kâté LeBlanc/Telegraph-Journal)
A young girl and a man watch as flames pour out of a building on the corner of Duke and Sydney streets in Saint John Wednesday afternoon.
By Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon
Telegraph-Journal
Two people are dead and two others injured following a fire in Saint John that destroyed a three-storey apartment building, leaving at least a dozen tenants homeless Wednesday afternoon.
The cause of the fire at 152-154 Duke Street, which took nearly five hours to extinguish, is still under investigation. Police and fire officials were expected to be on the scene this morning.
Norma Budgell believes the death toll could have been doubled if she hadn't been visiting her 93-year-old mother to help put up Christmas decorations.
When the second-storey apartment filled with thick, black smoke about 1:30 p.m., Ms. Budgell, 74, got her mother, Rita McGrath, outside to safety. Then she fought her way back through the blinding smoke to rescue her mother's boyfriend, Edward (Bossy) Ritchie, 67, who was taken to hospital with burns to his face.
"Thank God I went there today," she said, eyes skyward, still in shock.
Firefighters were called to 154 Duke St. at 1:30 p.m., said Chief Rob Simonds. The multi-unit brick building, located at the corner of Sydney Street, was already engulfed.
Flames were shooting from the second-storey windows and there were reports of people trapped inside, he said.
Firefighters worked quickly to contain the blaze to help rescue efforts, breaking windows to ventilate the building and improve visibility, with streams of water trained on the flames from all directions.
But the construction of the heritage building proved challenging, with air pockets created by subceilings and subwalls from years of renovations helping the fire to spread rapidly, said Chief Simonds, who was called to the scene after the fire escalated.
Flames were also stoked by strong winds that blew thick clouds of smoke and ash over the South End, leaving some neighbours concerned about their adjacent buildings.
Jeanne Chown, who manages her mother's four-unit building at 137 Sydney St., came home from work in case firefighters needed her to unlock her gate to gain access to the back of the buildings and to make sure her cats, Izzie and Sadie, were safe.
As a precaution, an apartment building across the street from the fire-ravaged building was evacuated in case it collapsed, said Chief Simonds.
A larger area was also cordoned off in case the hydro poles, which had already been cut off by Saint John Energy officials, came crashing down.
About 24 firefighters were on the scene and eight more were called in to help supplement coverage for the rest of the city.
"It's a bit of an anomaly to have a fire this significant in the middle of the day," said Chief Simonds. "Normally it's detected much sooner.
"We haven't had one of this magnitude and this consequence, with respect to the loss of life, in some time," he added.
Two people were taken to hospital about 1:45 p.m. with undetermined injuries as nearly 100 spectators looked on, shivering in the frigid temperatures behind yellow police tape.
At 2:10 p.m., about nine rescue officials rushed a middle aged man from one of the upper floors to a nearby ambulance on a stretcher, broken window glass crunching under the wheels as they anxiously performed CPR.
The man later died. His name could not be released until next of kin are notified.
About five minutes later, firefighters removed a body covered in a white flannel blanket from the building. That person's identity also could not be released.
Colin Parewick believes the man who subsequently died was the tenant he had been talking to just minutes earlier.
"I told him to get out, but he said he couldn't," said Mr. Parewick, who had been driving back to work along Duke Street about 1:30 p.m. when he saw the flames and pulled over to call 911.
The man, who was yelling down to him from the upper window of 152 Duke St., had his hands wrapped in what looked like towels or T-shirts, said Mr. Parewick. "I assume the door knob was too hot."
Click to zoom (Kâté LeBlanc/Telegraph-Journal)
Norma Budgell, left, holds on tightly to her mother Rita McGrath's hand shortly after the two escaped from a fire in Saint John Wednesday.
He said the man seemed "calm for the most part," but expressed concern about another tenant, an older man. "We told him to sit tight, the fire department was on its way."
The fire seemed to be under control fairly quickly, but then engulfed the building with flames licking out the windows and over the roof, he said.
"It's sad," said Mr. Parewick, suggesting the full impact likely hadn't hit him yet. "I wanted to go in and go upstairs, but there was already smoke in the building. There's no way I would have made it to the third floor.
"You feel helpless, but you have to be realistic about what you think you can do."
Ms. Budgell said she was just going on instinct.
She had been sitting in her mother's kitchen, talking on the phone to her brother in Toronto when she noticed an overwhelming smell, like a pot burning on the stove.
Next thing she knew, there was a wall of smoke pouring in through the door that separated her mother's apartment from a series of one-bedroom rooms.
"I couldn't see anything "... I've never seen so much black in all my life."
Ms. Budgell guided her mother, who was only wearing shorts and a top, about four feet out into the vestibule, then down a full flight of stairs. "She was short of breath, but I made her go," she said, her mint sweater torn at the collar and covered in soot.
Ms. Budgell saw the flames, but went back inside to get her mother's boyfriend of nearly 30 years. Although she couldn't see him, she felt his leg. He had fallen down and hit his head, she said. "I was trying to hold my (hand over my) mouth and get him up," she explained, traces of his blood from his burnt face in her blonde hair.
Her mother was uninjured and is insured, she said. But it will be the personal items that can't be replaced she will miss, including photos of her with her grandchildren from her birthday party last July and knickknacks collected during the 31 years she's lived in the apartment.
"That's going to bother her."
James Mailman, who has lived on the first floor of the building for three years, doesn't have insurance. He lost his computer, clothes, his wallet and identification, but he just shrugged his shoulders as he watched the building continue to smoulder.
"What can you do?"
Mr. Mailman had been visiting a friend's house when someone called his cellphone to say his building was on fire. He said he would likely stay with his parents or friends until he finds a new place. "I'm not going to homeless, or anything like that."
Some of the other tenants weren't so lucky, said Cpt. Chris Rideout of the Salvation Army.
The organization had to put up at least one man and one woman in a hotel for the night.
"It's a sad day," said Cpt. Rideout, who knew one of the victims.
"He had been here in the morning for coffee and donuts and a basic computer course. So for us, it's a face and a person. It's real. It's somebody we've been in contact with quite a few years."
Cpt. Rideout provided counselling on the scene to the son of one of the victims. He also supplied coffee and soup to anyone in need.
Sue Condran and Angelo Defazio, of Bent Halo Ministries, also did what they could, supplying blankets and seats in their warm van.
The Salvation Army is accepting cash donations to get tenants set up in new apartments. Many of them are on income assistance, receiving only $270 a month and can't afford a down payment on a new apartment, said Cpt. Rideout.
He's also looking for bedding, furniture, and dishes. The Salvation Army thrift store will provide the tenants with clothing, he said.
To make a donation, call 634-7166 or visit 36 Waterloo St.
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