Newcomers praise firefighters after being rescued from blaze during N.S. snowstorm
CTV
A family of five are among the survivors after a remarkable rescue from an apartment building that caught fire in Cape Breton during last weekend's paralyzing snowstorm.
A family of five are among the survivors after a remarkable rescue from an apartment building that caught fire in Cape Breton during last weekend's paralyzing snowstorm.
Ann Adibe, who is staying in a Sydney hotel with her husband and three children, described the early morning electrical blaze as "traumatic," saying that when she woke up around 5 a.m. on Sunday, she saw smoke emerging from the ceiling of the two-storey apartment building.
The fumes had spread throughout the building within minutes, she said in an interview Thursday.
"I had just woken up .... The smoke was coming out from the ceiling and it was becoming intense. I was in my nightie and it was freezing and cold. It was terrible."
Firefighters were called and arrived quickly at the scene, Mark Bettens, a platoon chief, said in an interview Thursday. Firefighters, each carrying about 50 kilograms of gear, came to Wesley Street and waded through about 150 metres of "close to waist-height snow."
He said they immediately began battling the fire with extinguishers and other hand-held tools they had carried in.
Meanwhile, he said two municipal snowplows cleared a path down the street, allowing firefighters to bring in water hoses to control the flames.
