As residents of a south Edmonton apartment building destroyed by fire grapple with the loss of their possessions, serious health concerns and possibly their beloved pets, more information is coming to light on the man accused of setting the blaze.
“I could burn the building down and murder every tenant that tried to run, and I’d get away with it at this point.”
The phrase was posted on Jan. 13 to a Facebook account with the same name as the man who police say set fire to the apartment building in the Queen Alexandra neighbourhood while refusing to obey a court order.
Jason Murray Zabos, 44, is charged with mischief/obstruction of justice, arson with disregard for human life, obstructing a peace officer and disobeying a court order requiring them to vacate a ground-floor unit at 10745 79 Ave.
That’s where fire broke out just after midnight Friday, hours after police arrived to enforce the court order at the apartment building a few blocks south of Whyte Avenue.
Neighbours told Global News police were there to evict Zabos.
The most recent Facebook post, timestamped Thursday, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m., said “The SWAT team is here” and went on to say “It took them that long, with that many people, that much effort, and this much force to finally corner me. Grandpa told me once, ‘Never corner a rabbit.'”
Edmonton police confirmed officers, including the tactical team, were called to the building in the Old Strathcona area to help another agency carry out a court order against a man who had barricaded himself in his suite.
Rosemarie Andruchow, who has lived in a ground floor unit with her husband William Davis for the past three years, told Global News negotiations with the man had been going on since about 5 p.m. Thursday, when police asked if the couple could temporarily leave their unit.
“They asked us if we had somewhere else in the building we could go. We said yes, we have a friend on the fourth floor,” Andruchow said.
The couple went upstairs, but left all their belongings and their cats, having no clue what was to unfold in the hours that followed.
Flames broke out in the suite where the man lived, but spread quickly.
Andruchow and Davis heard smoke detectors going off so their friend went into the hallway to investigate, and rushed back in.
“He said smoke in the hallway! get out! Get out!” Andruchow said.
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The fire moved so fast, many residents didn’t have time to flee before being trapped on the upper levels of the four-storey walkup.
“When I opened the door and looked down the stairs, I couldn’t even see the third floor, the smoke was that thick. It smelled like burning plastic. A chemical smell,” Davis said.
The couple couldn’t make it down one staircase so they tried another, and encountered people trying to flee upwards.
“I was yelling to them ‘Other way! We’re not going to make it this way.’ As we’re running to that exit, people were coming up from the second and third floor, yelling that there’s no escape.”
Davis said the couple was trapped and feared the worst.
“We’re gonna die. Literally, I thought we were going to burn to death.”
Edmonton Fire Rescue Services (EFRS) confirmed Monday the fire was deliberately set, after last week saying it appeared to have started in a main-floor unit and quickly moved up the building in the Whyte Avenue area.
The couple ended up on a balcony, like many of the people on the upper floors who had to be rescued by firefighters.
While Davis was able to get down a ladder, Andruchow has limited mobility and said she had to be rescued with the bucket truck because she couldn’t climb down.
“I was terrified. Absolutely terrified,” she said.
“My thoughts and my prayers are with the people still in the hospital,” Davis said. “It’s just crazy. I don’t know how else to describe it.”
Of the seven people taken to hospital, three have since been released but two remain in the intensive care unit: 67-year-old Cindy Oulds, who lived with her adult son Daniel and his two-year-old daughter, and Kelsey Johnston, who is 32.
Johnston’s boyfriend Alex Liaw said she is in a medically induced coma and undergoing hyperbaric oxygen treatments for carbon monoxide inhalation at the Misericordia Hospital.
He spoke with Global News on Monday outside the west end hospital.
“They are using a CPAP, so it helps her breathe — it also allows her to use her lungs a little bit,” he said. “They have her intubated and every so often they do suction to get some sediment out,” Liaw said.
Liaw said his girlfriend was initially conscious in the ICU and Johnston’s only concern was the well-being of her three cats.
“She’s not a material person. The only thing she cares about is her cats.”
When handed pen and paper by a nurse, she wrote “Alex” and “3 cats” with a heart, followed by their names: Mufasa, Rizla, and Shiva.
“We told her the truth. It’s… right now, we don’t know where they are but we’re hoping they’re still around.”
Liaw said investigators swept the ruins of his girlfriend’s apartment and did not find feline remains.
“They looked around for the cats. They didn’t find any cats — alive or deceased. So that’s hope, right?”
Johnston was also rescued from her balcony by the fire department. As he waits for her to be healthy enough to regain consciousness, Liaw is struggling to understand why the fire was started to begin with.
“You’re pissed off, right?”
While they feared for their own lives, Andruchow and Davis were also scared for their cats: a 10-year-old tabby named Molly and a black kitten named Trouble.
“My cats are my babies. They’re my world,” Andruchow said.
The couple escaped with the clothes on their back, losing everything in the fire: their photos, wallets, phones. They said they are thankful they had tenant insurance.
The couple used money from the Red Cross to buy food, new clothes and extend their hotel stay, as they try to find a new apartment.
“It could have a been a lot worse. I’m just thankful that it wasn’t,” Davis said.
“Hopefully the people that are in the hospital are ok.”
Johnston owns a small business based out of the Bountiful Farmers’ Market called Goddess Temple. Liaw has launched a GoFundMe to cover his partner’s expenses.
“We can help financially take a burden off her shoulders — imagine being heartbroken and now you’re broke, as well, because you lost everything? It’s just terrible.”
The family of Cindy and Daniel Oulds have also launched a fundraiser to help them get back on their feet.
All of the residents Global News has spoken with have expressed immense gratitude for the support they’ve received thus far.
The accused was arrested while the fire was taking place Friday morning. The Edmonton Police Service said Monday the accused in the case has been released from custody.
On Tuesday, more details about his release conditions were made public via court documents.
Zabos has been ordered not to contact or communicate in any way with the property manager or be within 500 metres of the building on 79th Avenue, except if escorted by a peace officer to collect his things. He only has once opportunity to do so, the conditions stated.
He is also not allowed to possess or control any “lighters, matches, flammable or explosive substances and/or any incendiary devices. That also includes lighters and/or matches.”
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