Family, friends keep memory of burn victim alive with fundraising tourney
Ten years have passed since 21-year-old Brenna Innes and her 22-year-old friend, Chelsea Robinson, died after being trapped by fire in a house they were visiting in suburban Victoria.
Innes’s memory has been kept alive by family and friends both through a scholarship at Point Grey Secondary for academic excellence combined with strong athletic ability (Innes was class of 2004), and Saturday’s annual memorial soccer tournament at the University of B.C.
In its first nine years the tourney has raised $38,000 for the B.C. Professional Fire Fighters Burn Fund, which provides treatment to burn victims. Organizers hope this year to raise $22,000, to bring the total to date to $60,000. “We’re thrilled with the momentum this tournament has generated, year after year,” Ann Coombs, director of the Future is Mine Adult Burn Survivor Program, said. “The continued support from the tournament has allowed us to provide short-term-stay units to accommodate burn and trauma patients, and their caregivers.”
More theme party than competition, the tournament annually attracts about 300 people, who are encouraged to come in costumes. Individuals can register for a team, as a spectator or simply donate through Chimp.
Innes and Robinson, a Sechelt native, were University of Victoria students staying with friends at a duplex in suburban Victoria to attend a soccer tournament. A neighbour spotted the fire around 4 a.m. and called the fire department. Within minutes, flames had exploded out of the windows. Five male students managed to escape, some by jumping out of second-storey windows. The woman who lived with her family in the other half of the duplex said the five did everything they could to try to save the two women.