A family escaped death in extremis when a mother and her son jumped from the second floor while the father, unconscious, was rescued by firefighters while their residence in Lévis was ravaged by flames.
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“We heard ‘help’. I went out and saw the mother and the little one on the second floor, ”says Stéphane Roy, a neighbor of the house on rue Bourassa which was destroyed by fire.
Around 4:10 a.m., he and other people in the area, who live on the other side of the alley in Old Lauzon, woke up to the sound of cries of distress from their friends.
Mr. Roy said he then tried to grab a ladder, but it was stuck in the ice.
“I told them to jump into the snowdrift or they would die. They didn’t want to, but at some point they had no choice,” said the neighbor, before bursting into tears.
Stéphane Roy says he tried to get the father of the family out of the fire before the first responders arrived on the spot.
“I tried hard. I opened the door while staying on the side, he was near the door I could hear him as it should, but it was too much smoke, ”says the one who regularly rubbed shoulders with the family.
rescue operation
It was then that the first team from the Ville de Lévis Fire Department arrived on the scene.
“We were notified that someone was missing. The firefighters got him out quickly and began resuscitation maneuvers. The man was in cardio-respiratory arrest, the paramedics continued the work”, confirms the head of operations Stéphane Gaumond.
For the moment, very few details have been released on the father’s state of health, but according to witnesses, he was still alive when he was taken to hospital.
“He was exposed to the smoke for a very long time. I don’t know if he will be able to get out of it, it would be a real miracle, ”says neighbor Stéphane Roy.
Meanwhile, the mother and 7-year-old son were picked up by the police and taken to hospital, but there was no fear for their lives.
Two buildings in danger
The major fire required the triggering of a fourth alarm. Forty firefighters were dispatched to the scene.
In addition to attacking the residence on fire, they quickly had to concentrate part of the operations on the houses behind.
The proximity of the buildings in this old quarter could have caused the flames to spread to several buildings.
“On the first floor, the flames were coming out and the back of the building was completely on fire. The risks of spread were very high,” said Chef Gaumond.
The causes and circumstances of the fire are still unknown. However, the hypothesis of arson has been ruled out.