Winnipegger helps save 3 passengers in a burning paratransit van – Winnipeg

Lorne Mansky got up and got ready for work, as he would any other Thursday morning in Winnipeg.

But when a paratransit van pulled up across from him at an intersection on his commute, things quickly changed.

“I saw flames of fire coming from under the vehicle. It took me about a second to realize what was happening. It appeared there was a large cardboard box stuck underneath the vehicle,” he said.

The IT consultant took action and had the van driver stop. He told the driver about the situation.

“He got out of the vehicle and was quite shaken, I guess you could say,” Mansky said.

The driver tried to free himself from the cardboard, but the van choked and stopped moving. So Mansky said he grabbed a broomstick from a neighboring yard and ordered a bystander to get the box from under the van.

They also tried to use a fire extinguisher, but it did not charge.

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“At that point we made some pretty heavy suggestions to the driver that we needed to get the passengers out,” Mansky said.

After two of the three passengers were removed, someone in a wheelchair was still secured in the back of the van.

But the elevator electronics no longer worked. Mansky took another step.

“I jumped in the back of the van. He recognized the fact that there were flames and proceeded to manually inflate the unit,” he said. “What seemed like an eternity was probably only 30 or 40 seconds. But we got the elevator back into place and were able to wheel the last person into the elevator and take them down.”

The rescue was successful and the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) reports no one was injured – an outcome that could have been very different had Mansky not intervened.

But he is not quick to call himself a hero. Instead, just a human.

“I have been a member of service clubs most of my life, and it has always been about service to others. And that's exactly what was going through my mind,” he said. 'You have to do what you have to do, otherwise I don't think I would sleep. Those people needed help.”

WFPS said the incident occurred on Park Terrace Drive and crews “quickly extinguished” the fire.

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

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