Off-duty firefighter honoured for pulling elderly woman from burning apartment
Posted April 12, 2011 3:38 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An off-duty firefighter was honoured at City Hall on Tuesday for pulling an elderly woman from a burning apartment.
David Evans was in a grocery store below the apartment on February 15 when he heard the fire alarm go off. Evans raced into the Gary Drive apartment, near Jane St. and Hwy. 400. Evans was helped by a second Good Samaritan, Shawn Murphy, who was unable to attend the ceremony.
“I broke down the door, I made seven or eight attempts to go upstairs,” Evans told CityNews on Tuesday.
“I could hear her calling out, I was calling out for her. I finally reached her after some oxygen bottles were fired off. It was very hot and smoky. With the assistance of Sean, who I met in the hallway, we got to the victim and carried her downstairs,” he said.
Mayor Rob Ford presented Evans with the Rescue Merit Award during the city council meeting.
The woman suffered severe burns and smoke inhalation in the fire and is still recovering in hospital.
CityNews reporter Anna Vlachos speaks with the victim’s son in the video below.
