Stephenville -
Stan Wheeler is thankful to have neighbours like Terry Duffenais and his family who sprang into action Sunday night when they saw a fire in a nearby apartment building.
Wheeler and his son Colin live in an apartment at 57 Colonial Ave. which is part of a duplex apartment. It was engulfed in flames that evening.
Duffenais recalls pulling into his driveway which is just a short distance up the street from Wheeler's apartment. He saw flames coming out of the front of the building.
"I ran over and kicked in the outside door on the front porch, but wouldn't open the inside door because I knew it would feed the flames," Duffenais said. "I knocked on that door just in case there was anyone inside asleep."
Duffenais then ran to the back and banged on windows, then went to the back door and when he opened it Maureen Benoit, who lived in the other apartment was coming out, covered in soot.
"She was in shock and said her daughter may be in there. I took a quick run inside, but never got very far because of the smoke and flames. Shortly after coming back out someone told us they had called and got in touch with Maureen's daughter, who was elsewhere," Duffenais said.
He then went and kicked in the door at Wheeler's apartment and started removing items like televisions, appliances, guitars and music CD's.
"It's good to have neighbours like that. For Terry and them to do that, I really appreciate it," Wheeler said.
Fortunately, Wheeler and his son were away from the house at the time. He wonders what the consequences might have been had it been later in the night and they had been at home asleep.
He just finished painting through the apartment and had decorated for Christmas.
Wheeler has been in the apartment for 12 years and liked it there. He said he'd like to stay there but believes there's too much damage. Luckily he was carrying insurance on the contents.
He will now have to start looking for another apartment, which is difficult to find in Stephenville.
"It's a difficult thing to happen right before Christmas and it's probably even tougher for Maureen (Benoit) as she likely lost all her possessions in the fire," Wheeler said.
Fire Chief Wayne Reilly said his department received the call at 8:12 p.m. on Sunday. He said it was an intense fire, as was fully involved on the inside at the time of arrival.
"We had to do a lot of overhaul through the evening as it kept flaring up and even got into the other side of the building (in Wheeler's apartment) in the attic, where there was a flare-up as well," he said.
Reilly said that apartment (Wheeler's) suffered water and smoke damage, while the front part of the other side (Benoit's) was gutted. He did say however, a couple of rooms in the back didn't sustain as much damage.
Corp. Howard Gale of the Stephenville RCMP, said fire investigators had been on the scene, and while he didn't have the report at press time, he did know the fire was not believed to be suspicious in nature and the investigation is continuing.
