When Kim Phair woke up Friday morning, she never would have thought the day would lead to a fatal fire in her apartment building.
Phair and her boyfriend occupy the ground-level apartment at 500 Tedman Ave. The resident who lived above them died in a fire that started in his apartment, Greater Sudbury Fire Services confirmed.
A cat also died in the fire.
Phair said when she heard the smoke detector going off in the building, she “rushed” upstairs to see what was happening.
“I saw my neighbours in the one unit coming out with their cats,” she said. “I helped get the cats downstairs. Then I went back up to try and help the man who lived in the other apartment.”
Phair said she had to force her way into the apartment, but when she opened the door, “there were flames and smoke everywhere.”
“I couldn’t see anything,” she said. “It was horrible. It was black from top to bottom. I was screaming his name to try and get him out, but the smoke kept getting into my mouth.”
At that point, firefighters were on scene, she said. She let them take over.
Phair went back to her own apartment, got her dog and walked to her mother-in-law’s apartment.
Phair didn’t learn about her neighbour’s death until she returned to the building a few hours later.
“It’s sad,” she said. “I see him all the time, and we talk. I wanted to make sure he was OK.”
Greater Sudbury Fire Services responded to the fire at 9:15 a.m., said deputy chief Jesse Oshell.
Crews arrived quickly to the fire. A search was conducted, said Oshell, as there were reports that one of the residents was trapped. That resident was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Fire services extends its condolences to those affected by this fire,” said Oshell.
The scene has been released to Greater Sudbury Police Service and the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office.
Oshell said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
