In his 30 years on the job, John Kokotilo has learned a lot about fires-but the Lakeview Manor fire last weekend has Lac La Biche County’ s Regional Fire Chief thinking more about fate than fire.
In his 30 years on the job, John Kokotilo has learned a lot about fires-but the Lakeview Manor fire last weekend has Lac La Biche County’ s Regional Fire Chief thinking more about fate than fire.
From the off-duty firefighter who happened to be passing by and called 911, to the other off-duty firefighter who saw what was happening and ran into the building, the nighttime hours of March 12 were marked by a stroke of good fortune that saved lives, he said.
“It was like somebody was looking after that group of people,” is how Kokotilo summed it up.
The fire was started by a cigarette butt in a planter on the balcony of a third-floor corner unit. From there, flames ran straight up the outside wall before spreading into the attic and roof where there were no smoke detectors. Attic detectors are not mandated by fire code regulations from the time when Lakeview Manor was constructed.
Off-duty firefighter Erin Wallace didn’ t waste any time in her response to the growing emergency. After seeing an orange glow, she went into the building and sounded the alarm, banging on apartment doors to let people know they had to leave. RCMP officers arrived shortly after. They, too, went door-to-door, telling residents to leave the building immediately-and kicking in doors when necessary. In those early minutes as fire crews were dispatched, a tragedy was being averted.
Kokotilo said those first responders who raised the alarm and started evacuating the building probably made the difference between lives saved and lives lost.
“They were instrumental in saving lives,” he said.
No residents were injured, and the building was fully evacuated in minutes.
Meanwhile, the fire in the upper levels was creating a pressure-cooker effect, Kokotilo said. Smoke and hot air were accumulating-and it all had to go somewhere.
“The smoke was starting to get out into the hall and other apartments by whatever means it could,” he said.
Eventually, the smoke was forced downward, creating a thick cloud on the third floor. Using a ladder truck parked on Main Street, firefighters made “trench cuts” in the building’ s roof to let smoke and hot air escape.
A strong wind from the northwest helped the fire burn away from where it started and towards the building’ s north side.
“Wind direction plays a huge role in fire direction,” Kokotilo said. “It was very windy that day, and the fire was being fueled by it.”
The fire department mounted a two-pronged attack, with some firefighters opening attic hatches inside the building to force the fire out from below.
Flames burning under the eaves might have allowed the fire to make it around the internal firewall and into the middle of the building, Kokotilo said, but that was prevented, leaving the fire-and the resulting damage-contained to the building’ s eastern end.
A firefighter suffered minor injuries when a piece of drywall fell and struck him. The fire chief said that’ s always a hazard, which is why recruits are instructed to stay close to walls as much as possible.
“It’ s always a 360-degree assessment when you’ re walking around,” he said. “You’ re looking at floors, walls, ceilings. If the fire’ s in the basement, you’ re thinking about the floor collapsing. If the fire’ s in the roof, you’ re thinking about the ceiling coming down.”
In this case, it was the weight of water pooling above that caused the drywall to give way. The firefighter was treated at the scene, taken to hospital and later released.
The work didn’ t end after the flames were extinguished. Hours afterward, firefighters were participating in what’ s called overhaul, searching for hot spots with thermal imaging cameras and dousing any problematic areas.
“Overhaul is very, very tedious,” said Kokotilo. “You’ re more or less sifting through debris that’ s, at times, two feet deep."
Although the blaze caused an estimated $1.25 million in damage, Kokotilo knows it could have been worse.
“We saved three quarters of the building, really,” he said, crediting the firefighters’ advanced training and coordinated attack efforts. “It has to be coordinated. If it’ s not, it doesn’ t work.”
Kokotilo, a long-time Edmonton firefighter and training officer, knows that a lot of factors played out that night.
“I just cannot stress enough how happy I am that nobody got seriously hurt,” he said.