Neighbours rush to rescue in Furby Street apartment fire

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This article was published 07/01/2020 (2069 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kelly Brown was sitting down to eat dinner with his family Monday night at his Furby Street home when he started to feel a little warm. So, he cracked the window, hoping to be blanketed by a cool breeze.

Instead, he heard a fire alarm beeping across the street — a sound almost as piercing as the voice he heard screaming for help.

Brown and his partner, along with a number of neighbours, ran toward the source of the din: an apartment block on the 400 block of Furby, which, for the second time in two weeks, was on fire.

“Instinct and being human kicked in,” he said Tuesday.

Brown said he entered the building, and heard from someone on their way out there was a fire on the third floor. He climbed two storeys up. A door was burning, so he kicked it down.

“The smoke was so black, I had to crawl,” he said.

A family member brought a fire extinguisher, and soon, the fire was out; Brown and other neighbours helped clear the building of occupants and pets.

“It was like a human chain,” said Brown, who helped four people trapped in the burning unit get out safely.

When Winnipeg fire crews arrived on scene, a city release said, they encountered light smoke but the fire had already been extinguished. By 6:30 p.m., the situation was declared under control, and no occupants or Good Samaritans were injured. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

For Brown, who only moved to the street two months ago, it’s already the second time he’s seen a firetruck in front of 485 Furby.

On Dec. 25, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to a fire in the 3 1/2-storey building, encountering flames and smoke coming from the apartment block. Similarly, all occupants had self-evacuated before crews arrived, and no injuries were reported. That fire is still being investigated, the city said.

The building is owned by the Living Recovery Foundation of Winnipeg, an organization whose stated mission is to “provide abstinent-based accommodations in clean, safe and structured environments for men and women in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction.” Of its 32 units, 25 are currently rented.

United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg president Alex Forrest said it isn’t uncommon for crews to respond to multiple calls to the same building. Sometimes, the calls are spread out by only a few hours or days.

Overnight Monday, crews also responded to a garage fire on the 200 block of Ethelbert Street, as well as a fire in a single-family home on the 100 block of Collegiate Avenue.

“It must be very disconcerting to wake up every week, and a few houses down, there’s a fire truck or police car,” he said. “Citizens are becoming aware they have to be on guard for these fires.”

On Monday, not only were they on guard, they took matters into their own hands — not a safe strategy, Forrest said. “That’s extremely dangerous, and many times when firefighters arrive, the individuals who attempt to help become victims themselves.”

Brown was checked for smoke inhalation, but said he’s feeling fine.

After the fire was under control, he went home. Tuesday morning, he went to his job: carpentry work, restoring properties damaged by fires and floods.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca