 Matthew Bemrose barely escaped a house fire 10 days ago. |
A minute earlier, he realized flames were raging in the living room of his Glenwood Avenue home. Black smoke clogged his lungs and burned his eyes as he pulled on the door to escape.
"I had seconds to get out. By the time I opened the front door, the pressure shot me onto the front lawn and every window in the house exploded," he said. "The house was completely, side-to-side engulfed. Flames were as high as the trees."
Bemrose, 32, had spent several hours in his bedroom that evening on Jan. 26. His dog, Vegas, was whining "relentlessly" at the bedroom doorway as he lay in bed feeling dizzy and nauseous.
He let the dog out the back door - a route that took him past the living room - about 45 minutes before the fire. There was no smoke. When he let Vegas back inside, the dog started whimpering again.
Fifteen minutes later, Bemrose got up a second time to let the dog out.
"That's when I realized something was terribly wrong," he said. "I took one or two steps out of the room. Black smoke hit me so hard, I couldn't see or breathe."
Fire consumed the living room. Flames were spiraling out of control. The sound of hissing was everywhere. Bemrose could barely see as the smoke stung his eyes. He "guessed" his way to the front door, he said.
Vegas, a Rottweiler cross, was by his feet while he tried several times to yank the door open. Once he got out, the door slammed behind him. The dog was still inside as the windows "exploded like bombs."
The pressure pushed Bemrose down the stairs and onto the yard. He started vomiting. He got up and kicked the door open. The interior of the house was a fireball.
"I could feel the pressure pushing on my face. The heat singed my eyebrows," he said. "I knew it was too late."
He ran to his bedroom window, which was still intact, and smashed the glass with his fist, cutting his hand. He pulled himself up and yelled for Vegas, but she never came. Flames started licking out the window and he gave up.
He was on his knees retching when a neighbour across the street came and helped him into his house. He later spent 12 hours in hospital, much of it on oxygen.
Bemrose will need an inhaler for years, he said. He lost all his possessions, Vegas, and his calico cat, Sanchez, in the fire. He had no contents insurance, thinking the premiums were part of the rent.
As if that wasn't enough, he wrote off his 2009 Porsche Cayenne, a $70,000 car, after colliding with a vehicle on Springfield Road last week. He was left an inheritance, which allowed him to buy his first house at 18, he said.
The house at 472 Glenwood was his first rental. He's staying with friends and hopes to find his own place in March.
"I lost a lot of stuff you can't replace. I don't know what I need because I need everything," he said.
Bemrose's family has set up a trust fund so people can contribute to his recovery. You can donate to account no. 24-6481205 at any TD Canada Trust. Cheques should be made out to his mother Leslie Filson.
A fire investigator is still looking into the tragedy. The unofficial cause is an unattended candle.
