A man from Abitibi was able to extricate himself in the middle of the night from his burning house by jumping from the second floor thanks to the scent of his dog, who woke him up and alerted him to the danger.
“I never heard the smoke detector, it was my dog who came to wake me up. He jumped on me and shook my arm with his big paws,” says David Prince.
During the night of Sunday to Monday, a fire, possibly of electrical origin, broke out in his residence in Rouyn-Noranda.
Photo courtesy of David Prince
Smoke and flames caused extensive damage to his home in Rouyn-Noranda.
The 47-year-old has taken to sleeping with shells on his ears. As a safety measure, he had had a smoke detector installed in his room when he moved in a year ago.
Despite everything, he heard nothing when the alarm sounded. Fortunately, his faithful companion Jack alerted him in time. Without him, he might have woken up too late, because there was already smoke in his room.
Another thing that certainly saved his life according to the firefighters: he sleeps with the door closed, which limited the amount of smoke in the room.
Photo courtesy of David Prince
heavy smoke
“When I opened the door I had a heavy cloud of smoke in my face. It was hot, I couldn’t see anything,” he explained.
His only option to get out of there was the window. But since his room is on the second floor, he found the operation rather risky.
“I tried once more to open the door to go to another room, because from there I could have jumped into a snowbank. But it was impossible. I couldn’t see where the fire was, I couldn’t see any flames, so I didn’t dare go down the stairs,” he said.
Photo courtesy of David Prince
David Prince, injured in his ankles, in front of his bedroom window from which he jumped.
He then rushed to his window. He first tried to save his pitou, but the latter did not cooperate. He managed to pick up the 85-pound colossus in his arms and threw him out the window.
“I tried to push him as much as possible in the snow. He fell on his belly and let out a little cry. Then he got up and walked,” he recalls.
traumatized
The man for his part managed to stand at arm’s length on the edge of the window and then threw himself on the ground. He broke both ankles when he fell.
He was still able to go to a neighbor, who welcomed him, while the emergency services arrived. He was taken to hospital by ambulance. Fortunately, her two children were not present that evening.
Photo courtesy of David Prince
He has since been able to return home and see the damage. He does not know if he will be able to return to live in his house, which he was renovating. “I had already put $100,000 into work,” he said apologetically.
He thinks that this event will remain long marked in his memory.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to go back to bed in a room on the second floor,” he said.