Firefighters are reminded of dangers

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This article was published 11/02/2015 (4124 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Edward Wiebe still remembers the melting carpet sticking to his firefighter’s suit eight years after the blaze that took the lives of two of his colleagues.

“All of us were scrambling in survival mode trying to escape from this hell,” Wiebe said.

Wiebe was speaking to RM of Macdonald firefighters at their hall on Jan. 27.  As he spoke, a slideshow of the blaze played behind him, showing the volunteer firefighters the dangers of their jobs.

“I’m the voice of reality that sometimes stuff can happen,” Wiebe said.

Wiebe was in the fire that took the lives of Capt. Harold Lessard and Capt. Tom Nichols on Feb. 4, 2007. The St. Boniface house fire also injured firefighter Lionel Crowther.

Wiebe remembers moments of that night clearly. He recalls finding what he thought was a window — his escape from the burning house.

“I heard some glass breaking and I started punching. I started punching a hole in the wall where a picture was hanging,” he said.

Wiebe was fighting for his life and dozing in and out of consciousness.

“I fumbled around looking for a hose line. It’s the highway in, it’s the highway out,” he said. “I remember thinking at that time that they’d just follow the hose line and find my body.”

Wiebe made it out of the fire but had third-degree burns on most of his skin, had nine fingers amputated and still struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder. His injuries left him in a coma for eight days. Having survived, he is using his second chance at life positively.

He speaks for the Firefighters Burn Fund of Manitoba and he also teaches two days a week at the fire academy showing people what can happen in a fire.

Mike Siemens, the RM of Macdonald’s fire chief and a firefighter in Winnipeg, pulled Wiebe from the doorway of the blazing house that night.

“I found Eddie and just grabbed him and pulled him into the snow. He was just screaming and screaming and I finally said ‘Eddie it’s me, Mike,’” he said.

Siemens wanted his volunteer firefighters to hear Wiebe’s story. Volunteer firefighters do the job on a part-time basis so they’re not reminded of the dangers of their job on a daily basis like full-time firefighters.

“We brought him here not to scare our members but just so they realize what can happen. It’s an everyday reminder not to take things for granted,” he said.

For more information on the Firefighters Burn Fund of Manitoba, visit firefightersburnfund.mb.ca

Amber McGuckin is a community correspondent for Headingley.