(Thanks to Hélène Légaré for sending this story to STATter911.com.)
Immediately below is the raw video shot by Richard Busque during an apartment fire just before 5:00 this (Wednesday) morning in the borough of Charlesbourg in Quebec City. A 10-year-old boy was dropped from a fourth floor apartment window and caught by neighbors. The boy’s mother was also dropped from the apartment by her partner who then jumped. Their impact was lessened by the snow cover.
According to news coverage, this happened while firefighters were on the scene or just arriving. The videographer and a relative of the victims claim the firefighters had a ladder that malfunctioned. The fire department says it’s too soon to say if that happened.
Click here if the video above fails to play
Three people were forced to jump out of their burning fourth floor apartment in Quebec City after a fire-truck ladder malfunctioned on Wednesday morning.
Richard Busque, who lives in an apartment behind the building, told Global News he could hear a woman screaming “give us a ladder.”
But the woman, a man and a 10-year-old boy were forced to jump because firefighters were unable to release a ladder up to them.
The boy and the man were hurt, but the fire department said their injuries weren’t critical. The boy was treated for a small burn before his release.
The mother’s brother, Alexis Collin, told CBC News that his sister suffered a broken wrist and was in an induced coma.
Both Busque, who shot the video, and Collin told CBC News the family had to jump because a fire department truck malfunctioned and could not deploy its ladder.
However, fire department spokesman Capt. Jean-François Daigle said it’s too soon to tell if that’s actually what happened.
