'It could have been fatal': Family recounts fleeing from apartment fire in minutes
Marianne Klowak | CBC News | Posted: August 27, 2018 8:58 PM | Last Updated: August 27, 2018
Leanne Nacionales and her family lost everything in Southdale fire
Staring at the rubble of what was once her family's home, Leanne Nacionales knows they wouldn't be alive today if it wasn't for her 10-year-old daughter Chloe Carreon.
The family were living in in the apartment block on Beaverhill Boulevard, next to the Royal Canadian Mint, that went up in flames just before 6 a.m. Sunday.
The girl was sleeping in the living room with her brother early Sunday morning when she heard the boy cry.
Carreon heard alarms going off and ran to her parents third floor bedroom to alert them.
"When we looked out the bedroom window, we saw a fire on the second floor. We heard a loud explosion. A propane tank that caught on fire and blew. It was really scary," Carreon said.
Nacionales and her fiance, Anthony La-Forrest scrambled to get everyone out alive.
"All I could see was black flames. I was calling out for Anthony, he ran out with the baby in the carriage. It was maybe five minutes for us to get everyone out, five minutes longer and it could have been fatal," said an emotional Nacionales, as she starts to sob.
A stranger lends a helping hand
The couple didn't have tenant insurance and lost all of their belongings.
Standing outside in shock and disbelief with only the clothes on their back, it was the kindness of a stranger that touched them.
Ernie Yakiwchuk lives nearby. He saw the smoke and drove toward the fire hoping to help. He and his wife offered the couple with the newborn and five children a place to stay and eat.
"And I asked them if they had any place to go and they didn't, so I said you are welcome to come to our place. I went and picked up some diapers and some sleepers and blankets from Wal-Mart and picked them up and brought them back to our house," Yakiwchuk said.
But Nacionales soon realized Yakiwchuk wasn't a stranger at all.
When Nacionales walked into Yakiwchuk's house, she burst into tears. Seeing a family picture, she realized she knew his daughter and daughter-in-law, having gone to high school with them.
"It was like it was meant to be," she said, fighting back tears.
"Fate took a step. He helped us out. I couldn't be more grateful for the family. He fed us. Let us get our bearings, charge our phones. It was like it was second nature to him. It was who he is. We are so so grateful."
'There is still humanity'
Anthony La-Forrest holds his one month old daughter Nori, as he looks on what is left of their home.
"Yesterday was a horror movie. Today is reality. You think it's going to get easier. It's just started to sink in. If it wasn't for the kindness of others, I don't know how we would make it. We are overwhelmed with how people have opened their hearts," La-Forrest said.
The couple is overwhelmed by the compassion and kindness of so many others, such as people showing up with shoes and clothing, and the Red Cross giving them food and paying for their hotel last night.
Ladco Co. Ltd., the building owner, has offered the family a three bedroom suite in the same complex Sept. 1. Family members have also set up a Go Fund Me page.
For Nacionales, she says it is in a moment of crisis that you see who people really are.
"There is still humanity. People who care. In our darkest hours, I can't believe the overwhelming amount of help we are getting," she said.
No one was injured in the fire that damaged two dozen suites.
The cause is still under investigation.