DRAMATIC FIRE RESCUE
Woman suffers severe burns
A woman is in hospital with severe burns after a dramatic rescue from her balcony during a raging fire at a Regina condo building.
The blaze broke out on the second storey of the apartment-style condo building at 4152 Buckingham Dr. E. on Sunday shortly before 9 p.m.
Jerry Eliason, who lives in a condo building next door, was at home when he heard the approaching sirens. He didn’t think much of it at first — until he heard a child screaming, “Mommy! Mommy!”
Eliason looked outside to see a girl dressed in her pyjamas standing on the ground. Eliason said the child, of about age 10, was yelling up to a balcony where a woman was standing.
“The lady was on her balcony and the fire became very intense; blew out the windows ... (There) was a big fireball covering almost the whole balcony,” said Eliason.
Before he had time to react, firefighters began arriving on scene.
Regina Fire and Protective services confirmed that two people were taken to hospital.
Fire marshal Randy Ryba said one person had safely escaped the fire before crews arrived on scene, but another was trapped on the balcony. Eliason said firefighters first tried to get the woman to jump from the balcony. When she couldn’t climb over the railing, Eliason said one of the firefighters climbed a ladder up to the balcony.
“They got her over the railing, took her down to the ground. They performed some emergency measures on her, the ambulance came, they took her away,” said Eliason.
Ryba said the woman is believed to have suffered severe burns to her body, and is now under intensive care in hospital.
The fire was contained to one unit of the building, but the damagewassevere.
“It was intense. Fire was coming out of every window and door in that one unit,” said Ryba.
Eliason said the condo where the fire happened is “completely gutted,” but commended firefighters for preventing the damage from being worse.
“They worked feverishly to get this fire out. They did a remarkable job,” said Eliason.
The condo directly below the unit sustained water damage, and there was also some exterior damage to the building.
Investigation into the cause of the blaze continues.