Winnipegger helps rescue 3 passengers in burning paratransit van

Lorne Mansky got up and got ready for work like he would any other Thursday morning in Winnipeg.

But when a paratransit van pulled up opposite him at an intersection on his commute, that quickly changed.

“I noticed fire flames from underneath the vehicle. Took about a second to realize what was going on. It appeared to be a large cardboard box had been trapped underneath the vehicle,” he said.

The IT consultant sprang into action and got the van’s driver to pull over. He told the driver about the situation.

“He got out of the vehicle, was rather shocked, one would say,” Mansky said.

The driver tried to back off the cardboard, but the van choked and stopped moving. So, Mansky said he grabbed a broomstick from a neighbouring yard and directed a bystander to help get the box from under the van.

They also tried using a fire extinguisher, but it wasn’t charged.

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“At that point, we made some rather heavy suggestions to the driver that we needed to get the passengers out,” Mansky said.

After getting two of three passengers out, someone in a wheelchair was still secured in the back of the van.

But the lift electronics had stopped working. Mansky, yet again, made a move.

“I jumped into the back of the van. recognizing the fact there was these flames, and proceeded to manually pump up the unit,” he said. “What seemed like forever was probably only 30 or 40 seconds. But we got the lift back into position and were able to wheel the last individual onto the lift and bring it down.”

The rescue was successful, and the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) reports that no one was hurt — a result that could have been much different had Mansky not stepped in.

But he is not quick to call himself a hero. Instead, just a human being.

“I’ve belonged to service clubs for majority of my life, and it’s always about service to others. And that’s the kind of thing that went through my mind,” he said. “You have to do what you got to do or I don’t think I would sleep. Those people needed help.”

WFPS said the incident happened on Park Terrace Drive, and crews “quickly extinguished” the fire.

“Please note that this was not a Winnipeg Transit Plus vehicle,” WFPS added.

5:03 Hundreds of vehicles go up in flames in Manitoba every year, and not all are accidental