A woman is still on life support after she and her 11-year-old son were trapped in their home while flames raged around them on Dec. 3.
It was just after 8:30 p.m. when a fire ripped through the home of Stephanie McDougall and her three sons in the Hunt Club area. Crews received a 911 call reporting the smell of natural gas from the multi-unit three-storey stacked townhome in the 100 block of Twyford Street. When they arrived, firefighters saw a large amount of smoke coming from the building.
According to officials, they heard people screaming inside — the voice of McDougall who was covering her son Malcolm as flames burned her skin, Beth Conway, McDougall’s mom, told CityNews in an interview.
“The fire came up from downstairs. So because there’s a wall there, she had to pass through that to get Malcolm out of his bedroom, and then she had to pass back through to get him out of there,” Conway said. “(That’s) where they found her on top of him, screaming on the kitchen floor, trying to protect him.”
McDougall’s two other sons, 13 and 15, were able to escape. A firefighter found and rescued a cat and gave it oxygen on the second search of the home. Conway said the four escaped with only the clothing on their backs. It’s possible the storage unit in another part of the building could be unscathed, but the furniture, clothing and personal belongings were all lost.
“It’s a devastating incident that happened,” Conway said.
McDougall is a single mom who spends her time taking care of her children, Conway said of her daughter.
“She’s a very quiet, gentle, loving person,” she said. “Stephanie’s number one is how much she cares for those that she loves; so her children and her animals. She deeply cares and takes very, very good care of them.”
A photo of Stephanie McDougall. (Contributed)
On Dec. 11, McDougall was still on life support but Conway said she is improving. McDougall was set to have plastic surgery to help repair the damage to her skin.
“Stephanie is severely burnt because she was protecting him (Malcolm),” Conway said. “Her entire face, both of her hands, her leg. She has thermal injuries to her eyes and, of course, her lungs are quite seriously damaged. They do not feel it’s life-threatening.”
The Conway family started a GoFundMe with a goal of $50,000 to help get McDougall and her sons back on their feet. Before the fire, McDougall was saving for over a year to buy a couch sectional. The fundraiser will help the family with items like beds, new sheets and clothes.
“I would like Stephanie to be able to choose for herself and then give her a little bit of a nest egg because she owns nothing. She doesn’t even have a toothbrush,” Conway said.
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