Many of those displaced by a massive fire at a New Westminster apartment building earlier this month lost everything, but the family of a senior resident is grateful for the first responders who saved her life.
Fran Banks was carried to safety from the balcony of her burning Pinecrest Manor apartment. As she was being brought down, video taken at the scene appears to show her slipping down a ladder and falling through the air. Miraculously, she was OK — what can’t be seen in the video is a group of firefighters who caught her before she hit the ground.
Fran’s daughter, Marni Banks, says her mother was napping when the fire broke out. Because Fran wasn’t wearing her hearing aids, she hadn’t heard the alarm, Marni says, and a neighbour banged on the door to wake her up.
Fran grabbed her purse and made it out to her balcony, where first responders spotted her and set up a ladder to rescue her.
“She’s scared of ladders, and she’s scared of heights, and she’s 80 with some mobility issues, so her being able to do that is a miracle in and of itself,” Marni said.
Fran was hospitalized as a precaution, as were the two firefighters who helped bring her down — an effort that took 13 terrifying minutes.
“She’s really, really lucky, and I’m really grateful to those firefighters for saving her life,” Marni said.
But the loss is still staggering. Marni says many precious, sentimental items are among the wreckage. Fran is now starting over from scratch, which is an uphill climb, considering rent for a new place will cost her nearly double what she was paying.
“My mom last night said, ‘I looked, just to see, for one-bedrooms in New West,’ and it’s like $1,900 or $2,000 for a one-bedroom,” Marni said.
“She’s on a pension; she can’t afford that.”
Blake Marino, who lives in the building next door to Pinecrest Manor, is also left trying to figure out his next steps. He won’t be able to go back to his first floor-unit for a long time because of water damage from fighting the fire next door.
He says the process of finding a new place isn’t easy.
“There are some options that are less [expensive], but the demand for those places is very difficult,” he said.
But Marino says the support he’s received has been immense. He has been put up in a hotel by emergency services while he looks, and fundraisers set up by co-workers and the broader community have made things manageable — something he never expected.
“For someone like me, it’s kind of difficult, because I’ve always done things on my own, and.. I don’t really rely on people a lot, and I haven’t really got to experience that,” he said.
“It was just kind of crazy how much support was there for people.”
Whether it’s a change of clothes, a gift card, or help down from a burning building, a little support in an emergency situation can go a long way.
But as the reality sets in that everything else is gone, residents of the former Pinecrest Manor are still trying to figure out where they’re going to land.
source & photo: CityNews
