Two Duncan men are being hailed as heroes after a man was saved from a burning house by firefighters on April 17.

Brian Parnell and Danny Ignace were helping their friend Mel Marriott clean the upstairs section of a home on Coronation Avenue in the early afternoon when smoke started drifting up into the apartment through a vent from a suite downstairs.

Parnell said he and Ignace went downstairs to see where the smoke was coming from.

He said they banged on the door but there was no response so they opened the unlocked door and found thick smoke hanging more than two feet from the ceiling.

Parnell said he began checking the doorknobs in the suite for heat to determine if there was a fire on the outer side of the doors.

He said he opened the door to a bedroom and found the smoke in the room was just about a foot from the floor.

鈥淲e yelled out but never got a response,鈥� Parnell said.

鈥淲e had a flashlight, but the light couldn鈥檛 penetrate through the smoke. We went outside and called the fire department.鈥�

Parnell said he and Ignace waited for the firefighters to arrive and informed them that they were inside and couldn鈥檛 locate anyone, but there may still have been somebody in the apartment.

鈥淭hey went in and a few minutes later, came out with the tenant who was in the bedroom at the time but didn鈥檛 answer us when we were calling out,鈥� he said.

鈥淗e was semi-conscious when they brought him out on a stretcher, but we don鈥檛 know if he was unconscious when we were in there. He was put in an ambulance and taken to the hospital and I hear he鈥檚 OK.鈥�

Marriott said the two men are heroes for their actions.

鈥淭hey went into that apartment looking to help anybody in there with no regard for their own safety,鈥� he said.

鈥淲ho knows what could have happened if Brian and Danny had not been there?鈥�

A spokesman for the Duncan fire department, who asked not to be identified, confirmed the incident.

He said the damage to the building was minimal and the incident is under investigation.

robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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