Navy Men Rescue Tenants in Highrise Fire

Damien Cox
excerpted from The Toronto Star, 09Feb87

(Me?? I didn't even have a lighter.....)

"Ten US Navy Divers will be recommended for civilian citations by Metro Police after snuffing out an early morning blaze in the stairwell of a Scarborough apartment building.

"Chief's Machinists Mate Bruce Partlow, the senior member of the group, said his colleagues may have saved many lives at the highrise at 1050 Markham Road where they had been quartered.

"'The men directly prevented a large number of casualties and a great deal of damage to the building,' he told the Star. 'What they did was definately above and beyond the call of any duty.' Police say arson is suspected in the incident.

"The Deep Sea Divers arrived in the Metro area Saturday night from the Naval Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. They are to participate in joint US/CAN hyperbaric medical research projects at the Canadian Forces Base Downsview. They were awakened at 1 AM this morning by the building fire alarm.

"'It did take a moment to figure out what was happening, but one of our team members found the source in a stairwell," Partlow said. He and his team began evacuating the 20 story building while 2 teammates- Hospital Corpsman Guy Guilliano and Hull Tech Steve Nance- raced to find the fire source. Collecting several fire extinguishers along the way, Guilliano and Nance find the souce in the 5th floor stairwell and battle the flames to a checkmate until the Toronto Fire Department arrives on scene to relieve them.

"An elderly couple was transported to Centenary Hospital for observation. There were no other injuries."

(...and Yes, we did get a GREAT upgrade in our room status the next day, courtesy Uncle Sam... :-)