Winnipegger helps rescue 3 passengers in burning paratransit van

Lorne Mansky got up and got acceptable for enactment similar helium would immoderate different Thursday greeting successful Winnipeg.

But erstwhile a paratransit van pulled up other him astatine an intersection connected his commute, that rapidly changed.

“I noticed fire flames from underneath the vehicle. Took astir a 2nd to recognize what was going on. It appeared to beryllium a ample cardboard container had been trapped underneath the vehicle,” helium said.

The IT advisor sprang into enactment and got the van’s operator to propulsion over. He told the operator astir the situation.

“He got retired of the vehicle, was alternatively shocked, 1 would say,” Mansky said.

The operator tried to backmost disconnected the cardboard, but the van choked and stopped moving. So, Mansky said helium grabbed a broomstick from a neighbouring gait and directed a bystander to assistance get the container from nether the van.

They besides tried utilizing a occurrence extinguisher, but it wasn’t charged.

“At that point, we made immoderate alternatively dense suggestions to the operator that we needed to get the passengers out,” Mansky said.

After getting 2 of 3 passengers out, idiosyncratic successful a wheelchair was inactive secured successful the backmost of the van.

But the assistance electronics had stopped working. Mansky, yet again, made a move.

“I jumped into the backmost of the van. recognizing the information determination was these flames, and proceeded to manually pump up the unit,” helium said. “What seemed similar everlastingly was astir apt lone 30 oregon 40 seconds. But we got the assistance backmost into presumption and were capable to instrumentality the past idiosyncratic onto the assistance and bring it down.”

The rescue was successful, and the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) reports that nary 1 was wounded — a effect that could person been overmuch antithetic had Mansky not stepped in.

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But helium is not speedy to telephone himself a hero. Instead, conscionable a quality being.

“I’ve belonged to work clubs for bulk of my life, and it’s ever astir work to others. And that’s the benignant of happening that went done my mind,” helium said. “You person to bash what you got to bash oregon I don’t deliberation I would sleep. Those radical needed help.”

WFPS said the incidental happened connected Park Terrace Drive, and crews “quickly extinguished” the fire.

“Please enactment that this was not a Winnipeg Transit Plus vehicle,” WFPS added.