Man saves pregnant daughter from blaze, dies attempting to save child
OSHAWA, ONT. • A 50-yearold Oshawa man is being hailed a hero after running into a burning house to save his pregnant daughter and then sacrificing his life in a second, unsuccessful bid to rescue a child.
Steve McDonald was one of four victims of the blaze east of Toronto Monday morning. Two children were among the dead.
“When everything first happened, he was trying to staunch the fire, but it had gotten out of control way too quick. He ran back in to save his own daughter, who was seven months pregnant,” neighbour Laura Green told CBC Toronto from outside her home.
“Then when she was out, there was another woman crying, ‘My baby, my baby.’ He went back in to see if he could save her.”
While his daughter is among the survivors, Macdonald never came back out, Green told CBC.
The brown brick house, officially classified as having two storeys plus a loft, was divided into a number of apartments. Seven other residents who were in the house at the time survived, including three who were taken to hospital with injuries.
Green, who could see the burned home from her backyard, said she was outside smoking with her husband when the fire broke out.
“We heard a big bang and ... saw a flash and people coming out of the house screaming ‘ fire’ in a total panic,” she said. “We saw the whole thing go up in flames. It was horrific.”
“Steve heroically ran back into the building twice. Once to save his daughter, and then again, to save another child,” she told CBC.
“Knowing that people died in that fire, and that you were essentially watching their last minutes, it’s horrific to get your head around.”
Although police have not yet identified the victims, neighbours say that in addition to Macdonald, the fire killed 36-year-old Lindsey Bonchek, her nine-year-old daughter, Madeline, and her four-year-old son, Jackson, who was pulled from the fire but later died.
The blaze was reported a little after 8 a.m. and firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke and flames that had to be fought from the outside before crews could attempt to rescue those trapped inside.
At one point, fire crews had to pull back as conditions worsened before regrouping and resuming their search and rescue efforts, said Fire Chief Derrick Clark.
“The firefighters made several heroic attempts to get in and get to the upper levels and they were pushed back,” he said. “They fought their way up through intense heat and smoke conditions ... and after retreating, they forced their way back in again.”
Clark also noted the blaze broke out in the middle of a significant snowfall that presented “very difficult conditions, both for crews driving en route here as well as fighting this fire.”
Clark said he could not confirm whether there had been an explosion at the house, but said there was speculation that the blast heard could have been related to windows blowing out during the blaze.
Ontario’s Office of the Fire Marshal is working with local officials to investigate the blaze.