The top floor of a Charlottetown apartment was damaged by a fire late Saturday night.
Of the apartment’s nine residents, two had to be rescued and sent to the hospital. Most of the damage was interior, but there was some exterior damage on the back of the building.
Fire inspector Winston Bryan said the Charlottetown Fire Department was dispatched to 85 Edward St. at about 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 14. There was an active fire at the seven-unit building.
“The fire was contained to the third level and the roof-area.”
Fire on Edward St. pic.twitter.com/3RPedicgTp
— CharlottetownFire (@ChtownFire) September 15, 2019
The fire proved challenging to put out because of add-ons made to the building’s roof, he said.
“Voided spaces in the roof-area made firefighting very difficult.”
The fire was under control by about 3 a.m. One of the residents was rescued on the second floor by Charlottetown Police, while the other, David Griffin, was rescued by the fire department on the third floor.
Griffin was watching TV before bed when he smelled smoke and heard someone yelling “fire.”
He and his wife, who was away for work, lived in the apartment for the past year. He checked the building’s back staircase, where a fire was growing very rapidly at the top, he said.
He raced around the apartment to grab some things, and at one point he tripped. He considered trying to exit using the stairs.
“(But) I knew I wouldn’t have made it. I would have been burned.”
As smoke levels grew in his unit, he struggled to breathe. He made for the apartment’s front window to try and escape, but before he could he passed out.
Fire fighters found Griffin slumped near the window frame. They rescued him via a ladder and helped him down so he could be transported to the hospital.
“I was lucky to get out,” he said.
He spent at least six hours at the hospital early Sunday morning. He was treated for lung damage, and he was also bruised and scraped from trying to escape.
“They had me on oxygen all night.”
Griffin said there weren’t any smoke detectors in the apartment’s back staircase. He and other residents weren’t allowed to enter the building on Sunday morning as Bryan and his team continue to investigate the cause of the fire.
Canadian Red Cross volunteers were on the scene to provide support as needed. Volunteers helped those impacted with emergency purchases like clothing, food and other essentials. They also ensured residents had a place to stay, securing eight individuals lodging while one chose to stay with family.
