Residents recall Coquitlam apartment fire, worry about what's next

Around 100 people have been set up in temporary accommodations after fire tore through a rental apartment complex in Coquitlam, B.C., on Thursday morning.

Residents on Friday recalled theharrowing fire and wondered what may come next.

Zeinab Mohseni and her family lived above the unit where the fire started early Thursday morning.

She said she looked outside her window and saw "smoke from underground and it was really scary,"

Mohseni and her husband leftwith their children, banging on the doors of neighbours as they fled.

"I started to scream loudly, 'Get out, get out, run, it's a fire,'" she said.

Landon Phillips said he didn'tthink there was an actualfire as there havebeen false alarms in the past. Then, "he heard people panicking."

"I looked outside the window and the flames [were]bursting up," he said.

WATCH |Around 100 peopledisplaced after Coquitlam apartment fire:

Large Coquitlam apartment fire displaces around 100 people

6 months ago

Duration 2:05

Around 100 people have been displaced after a large apartment fire in Coquitlam during the early hours of March 7. Fire crews say flames were climbing from floor to floor. As Joel Ballard reports, its unclear when and if residents will be able to return home.

He knew he had to get out,but not before callinga couple in the building, Tanya Carr and Eugene Tolander.

"This guy is our guardian angel right here," Carr said of Phillips. "He phoned us and got us awake and got us out before the smoke took us over."

By the time firefighters arrived, four units were already engulfed in flames.

Tolanderand Carr lived near those units and had slept through the alarm.Tolandersays there was smoke in their unit and he and Carr frantically grabbed some items and left.

He said he is grateful for their neighbour's composureamid the chaos.

"If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have woken up," he said.

"And if we had woken up, with allthat smoke, forget it, we probablywouldn't have made it out. So thank you, Landon. You saved my life."

'Some of us have lost everything'

The building's residentshave been forced to leave with helpfromthe City of Coquitlam'semergency support services.

Residents have been provided clothing, food, daily essentials and temporary shelter at hotels around Metro Vancouver.Their accommodations arecovered for six days.

In a statement, the City of Coquitlam confirmed around 100 residents were displaced by Thursday's fire. Many units wereundamaged thanks to fire walls in the building.

"Pending engineering, safety and air quality assessments, we're hopeful that most residents will be back in their units soon," the statement said.

Phillips said some in the building are facing an uncertain future.

"Some of us have lost everything," Phillipssaid. "It's not good. And with housing prices the way theyare, it's no joke. Some of us are capitally screwed. Where are we going to go?"

Mohseni's unit has been destroyed.The trauma, she says, isstill fresh.

"We are so worried because I don't think that we can afford, with this expensive rent, to find any place," she said.