Eastern Door Volume 7 Number 11

Volume 7 Number 12

April 17, 1998

Morning fire razes house
One injured and two homeless as flames spread quickly
By: Kenneth Deer

Fire ravaged the home of John Jocks, slightly burning him and heavily damaging the apartment of Patty Brown last Monday morning.

John Jocks, 80, suffered burns to his right leg and foot and also sprained his wrist. Jocks was apparently cleaning his oil stove when he accidentally set fire to oil in a pan. When he lifted the pan, the oil spilled around the room. His pant leg and sock caught fire and he fled the building, spraining his wrist in the process.

Steven Stacey, Clint Jacobs, Jody and Jeff Laboucan were the Peacekeepers on the scene. They moved a car out of the driveway and assisted Mr. Jocks.

Assistant Fire Chief David Scott was first on the scene from the Fire Department by about 8:55 a.m. "The fire was already shooting out the window by the time we got there. We only had three guys on the truck but three ex-firemen who were in the area came to heal," said Scott.

The Fire Brigade was a little short handed at the time as one crew was on an ambulance call.

Scott called for assistance from St. Isidore almost immediately. "The fire was so far advanced that I decided to call for help. I asked for a pumper and manpower," said Scott.

With flames belching from the windows, the first priority was to cool down the propane tank on the side of the house and the oil tank on the back porch.

After that, the firemen attacked the fire itself.

"The guys did as good job of interior attack as I have seen," said Scott.

The house had two apartments. The east wing and upstairs belonged to Jocks and the west wing to Brown. While Jocks' was engulfed in flames, Brown's apartment suffered mostly smoke and water damage. Many of her belongings were taken out a back door and window with the help of friends and neighbors.

One fireman from St. Isidore narrowly missed injury when he was knocked off the first floor roof. He and Wilbert Standup were on a ladder pointing a hose into the upstairs window. When the water was turned on, the back pressure knocked the St. Isidore fireman off the ladder and onto the ground. The hose fell on the first floor roof and was running loose. Standup had to jump on the hose to get it under control to keep it from injuring anyone.

The St. Isidore fireman fell on his back but was not injured except maybe his pride.

Scott himself was overcome by smoke inside the building when his mask came apart. Other than these two incidents, no injuries were reported by the firemen.

Hydro-Quebec showed up at 10:17 to disconnect the power line to the house. The major part of the fire was out by then but there was a lot of work to be done dousing flames in the eaves and roof.

"I would like to thank Sam Kirby, Allan Sonny Goodleaf, Kenneth Diabo, Albert Stalk and Grant Stalk for helping us that morning and anybody else I forgot to mention," said Scott.

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Editorial

Tragedy affects everyone
By: Kenneth Deer, Eastern Door

It is always sad to hear of a child being found in a swimming pool with no heartbeat. A life snuffed out before he has even a chance to experience life. And for this life to be revived and saved for a short time only to die again is doubly painful.

The anguish the parents feel cannot be described and the whole community feels for them. We can only console them the best we can.

Perhaps it would help them to know how we all feel. If they see us at the wake and funeral and a few kind words whenever possible and appropriate helps them in some small way. It not only makes them feel a little better but it is good for us, too, to share some of the grieving.

While no one can be closer to the pain than the parents and close family and friends, other people, too, have been affected by this tragic death. One particular person stands out in this case and that is the rescue worker who first responded to the call for help.

"I was on my way to start my shift at the fire hall when I heard the call on my scanner in the car. I drove towards Peter's house and met the Peacekeepers car near the tracks on Mohawk Trail. I jumped into the PK's car and I took over doing CPR on the child. When we met the ambulance on the 132, I went along to the hospital.

"We had the boy breathing and we thought that we had saved him. The hospital was concerned about the loss of oxygen to the brain but they said that the boy was doing great. I felt good about the whole rescue," said Raymond Lepine, know as Ghostbuster to his friends.

That was Saturday afternoon. Monday morning, Lepine was in Lasalle when he heard the call for help to fight a fire at John Jocks'.

He can and did his duty fighting the fire. After the fire was under control, he was informed of the death of the little boy he helped save.

Lepine immediately broke down and cried openly.

Other members of the Kahnawake Fire Brigade tried to console Lepine the best they could.

"It was hard to take," said Lepine. "A young child like that with his whole life ahead of him. I was so sure we had saved him. It was too much."

We seem to take for granted our volunteer fire and ambulance people. They are always there when we need them and we seem to forget that they have feelings too. They see the suffering of our people first hand and yet we give them little credit or consolation for a job that sees so much misery.

We have a fine fire and ambulance unit in Kahnawake. We should not forget that they have feelings and a love of the job and the people they serve.

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