He took 11 flights of stairs without his wheelchair
John Webb tells of the struggle to make it to safety from the highrise engulfed in smoke
John Webb waited as long as he could in the St. James Town highrise that was engulfed by smoke most of Tuesday — until he was forced to struggle down 11 flights of stairs without his wheelchair “I can’t walk more than 100 yards at a time,” he told the Star in an interview. Webb said he needs the wheelchair because he suffers from lung disease. “If you take my lungs out of the equation, I’m all right,” he said. “But getting around is really tough.” When the fire alarms first rang through 650 Parliament St. at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Webb said he was alone with a dead cellphone and “no way of knowing what was going on.” He listened to regular announcements over the building speakers telling residents to stay indoors — until the power went out. After staying put for the majority of the day, he decided it was no longer safe. At around 8 p.m. — when the building was still under a voluntary evacuation — Webb climbed down the stairs alone. “When I finally left the building last night, I ran into a firefighter escorting an elderly lady with a cane down the stairs and she saw me and said, ‘Do you need medical assistance?’ ” “I said I probably will by the time I get outside.” Webb said the firefighter advised him to go straight to emergency medical personnel when he got to the ground. Paramedics checked his vitals and oxygen, and eventually everything levelled out, he said.
Webb wasn’t able to retrieve his wheelchair until Wednesday. Thankfully his brother in law is a retired fire captain, and some of the firefighters on scene were part of his old crew, Webb said.
“He sent three of the boys up and they wrestled it down 11 flights of stairs and now I have my chair with me,” he said. “Which is astounding, because I just can’t get on without it.”
Firefighters usually have control over elevators, Toronto fire Captain David Eckerman said, but reports from 650 Parlia- ment St. said the elevators weren’t functioning during the evacuation.
Eckerman said in that case firefighters usually have to carry people or bring up stretchers to get them down.
Webb said he’s lucky to have so many friends and family members willing to step up and help.
He was able to stay with a friend Tuesday night and said he can stay there for the next few days. After that, someone else has offered him accommodation.
“Every friend I’ve got came out of the woodwork to offer me everything I could possibly need,” he said.
“People I would never have expected it from have offered me a place to stay.”
He is worried that there isn’t a known date for when he will be able to return to his apartment, noting he’s spent 27 years there.
“I’m feeling very displaced,” he said, “I live on a very small fixed income, at this moment in time I have zero money. This is very typical for those of us who live in St. James Town.”
Toronto fire Chief Matthew Pegg told reporters on Thursday the preliminary cause of the fire was a major electrical failure, the repairs for which would take several months.
“There is literally no electricity,” he said.
After asking for help from local hotels and people with short-term rentals, Mayor John Tory on Thursday said the city had secured 230 hotel rooms for displaced residents.
But the mayor said they were still working on finding a longterm solution, and pleaded with friends and family members housing residents to hold onto them a little longer.
The city is still keeping one emergency centre open over- night Thursday for any residents who hadn’t yet registered for assistance.
Webb registered with the Red Cross, informing them he may need housing in the future.
He said he got the impression that since he uses a wheelchair, he’ll move to the top of the list faster than others.
“The whole situation is just kind of hairy,” he said.
“Like what do I do about my mail? What do I do about my rent? Obviously I won’t be paying rent. None of us will,” he said.
“But will we all get some compensation for being displaced?”