PENTICTON — A dramatic video shows friends and strangers hollering for a man named “Kyle,” alerting him of his burning motel room. Kyle Gerkin and his girlfriend were asleep at the time the blaze broke out. Thanks to good samaritans shouting his name and pounding on his window, Gerkin and his girlfriend were able to escape his suite without injuries.
“I’m just thankful that I wasn’t in there and I was able to get out,” he says.
The fire gutted his suite, after it had spread from his neighbour’s room.
The pair’s cat did not survive the fire.
Jason Funk did not have people calling his name to wake him up from his sleep.
The fire started in his motel room, and the intense heat was enough to alert him.
“I ran out of the building and jumped off the railings,” says Funk. “It happened so quickly, I don’t know, I’m still in shock.”
Funk suffered burns to his face and right arm.
Fire officials say the flames had gutted the two suites, leaving behind rubble.
The blaze destroyed so much that officials can’t determine where exactly it had sparked and how.
“At this point, I can’t tell anything. We’re just looking at burn patterns and sifting through the debris,” explains Penticton fire inspector Mike Richards.
Police say the blaze doesn’t look suspicious, but Penticton RCMP are assisting the local fire department in the investigation.
Gerkin and Funk may never learn what caused that fire, but right now, they’re grateful to be alive.
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