“They had no choice”: A family escaped death in Lewes

A family narrowly escaped death in terror when a mother and son jumped from the second floor, while the father, unconscious, was rescued by firefighters as their flat in Lewes was gutted by flames.

• Read more: Three people seriously injured in a fire in Lewes

“We asked for help. I went out and saw the mother and the little one on the second floor,” said Stephen Roy, a neighbor of the house on rue Bourassa that was destroyed by the fire.

Around 4:10 a.m., he and other residents of the area, who live across the alley in Old Lawson, woke up to the cries of their friends.

Mr. Roy said.

“I told them to jump in the snow or else they would die. They didn’t want to, but at some point they had no choice,” the neighbor said before breaking down in tears.

Stephen Roy says he tried to get the father of the family out of the fire before first responders arrived on the scene.

“I tried hard. I opened the door from the side, he was near the door, I could hear it, but it was very smoky,” says the man, who continued to rub shoulders with the family.

Rescue operation

That’s when the first team from the Ville de Levis Fire Department arrived on the scene.

“We were informed that someone is missing. Firefighters rushed to rescue him. The man went into cardio-respiratory arrest and the paramedics continued to work,” confirms head of operations Stephen Goumond.

For now, very few details about the father’s condition have been released, but according to witnesses, he was alive when he was taken to the hospital.

“He was exposed to smoke for a very long time. I don’t know if he could get out of it, it’s a real miracle,” said neighbor Stephen Roy.

Meanwhile, the mother and her 7-year-old son were picked up by the police and taken to the hospital, but there is no fear for their lives.

Two buildings are at risk

A fourth alarm should be activated for major fires. Forty firefighters were dispatched to the scene.

In addition to attacking the burning apartment, they had to quickly concentrate part of the operations on the houses behind.

The buildings in this old quarter were close together so the fire could have spread to several buildings.

“On the first floor, flames were coming out and the back of the building was completely engulfed in flames. The risks of spread were very high,” said Chef Goumond.

The cause and circumstances of the fire are still unknown. However, the hypothesis of arson was ruled out.