Leo Bouillon and his wife Susan Bouillon comfort each other and their dog Belle in a hotel room after a fire in their apartment unit left them homeless. Neighbours carried Leo, a double amputee, down six flights of stairs of the apartment building where the couple lived at 1132 Adelaide St. N. (Andrew Forbes, Special to The Free Press)
Neighbours carried a double amputee to safety after a fire that tore through his Adelaide St. apartment left him and his wife homeless.
Susan Bouillon was awakened by the screams of her husband, disabled 63-year-old Leo Bouillon, when the blaze started at about 3 p.m. Saturday in their sixth-floor apartment at 1132 Adelaide St. N.
“The apartment was fully engulfed” in flames, said Susan, 52. “We were just lucky that we got out in time.”
For that, they can thank a pair of neighbours Susan says helped guide Leo to safety from the apartment to the building’s main floor.
“One of them lent his jacket to Leo and then they carried him and his wheelchair down the stairs for us,” she said. “I just think they’re awesome. ‘Thank you’ just doesn’t say enough.”
London Fire officials peg the damage at about $100,000. No one was hurt and the cause of the fire is still under investigation Monday.
The Bouillons lost most of their possessions in the blaze and, making the aftermath all the more difficult, they didn’t have insurance.
The couple has been given a hotel room, paid for by the Red Cross, but that ends on Tuesday. Family members have helped pay for two more days, and Susan said she’ll ask Ontario Works about emergency shelter options beyond that.
Her main concern is that, wherever they land, they be allowed to keep with them her two dogs, Belle and Beau: “They’re not just dogs to me. They’re part of our family.”
Family friends have donated bags of clothing, she says, adding she’s beyond grateful for the help.“
I’m totally blown away that there are that many people out there who really care. I didn’t know that we knew that many people or that that many people would offer to help.”
While safe and sound, and clearly overwhelmed by the help they’ve received, Susan and her husband remain uneasy about their medium- and long-term future.“
It’s good that we are all safe, but I have no idea what we’re going to do,” she said. “I don’t know where we’ll end up. I just don’t know right now.”
–With files from Free Press reporter Patrick Maloney
via Neighbours help amputee escape fire | Local | News | The London Free Press.
