‘Hell I can’t describe:’ Residents recount Regina apartment fire

Rizwana Ali will never forget hearing people shrieking in pain after a fire in her apartment complex.

“I (haven’t) slept for the past two days because there is screaming in my ears,” she said Monday. “I still feel the scream.”

Regina Fire and Protective Services crews doused flames that engulfed the apartment complex in the 200 block of Centennial Street near the University of Regina on Saturday night.

According to a social media post by the fire department, more than 50 people from 16 different suites were displaced. The fire department said two people were hurt while escaping.

On Monday, Ali and her family had just returned to their apartment after being moved by Mobile Crisis and the Red Cross. Her unit is a few doors away from the blackened and boarded-up apartments that were scorched in the blaze.

Ali said she thought someone might have been barbecuing on the balcony when she smelled smoke. When she walked outside, she saw flames and heard people screaming from the upstairs apartments.

“I see three people upstairs screaming, ‘Help us! Help us!’ ” she said.

Ali watched as people jumped from the windows of the upstairs apartments. The three people who jumped were hurt during the fall.

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Until the snow covered it, she said she could see the blood on the ground.

She remembered crying while she called 9-1-1.

“It (was) hell I can’t describe,” she said. “It was a really bad situation. I didn’t see anything like that in my life.”

After passing jackets to help those who were hurt, Ali waited in her car with her family until they were moved to a hotel by the Red Cross.

The winds were strong Saturday evening, and Ali watched and worried about the flames spreading to her unit. Her family was not allowed to take their pet birds with them and she worried they would perish.

“This is a really scary situation,” Ali said. “The fire is so big, and so black.”

Ali and her family were able to return to the apartment on Sunday and found the birds safe.

Space heaters are warming the apartment because the heat isn’t working. She doesn’t know when the heat will come back on.

Oksana Shulichemko and her son Roman lived one door down from where beige siding was peeling off the walls from the heat.

The mother and son have been staying with a friend since the blaze. She said she doesn’t know if it’s safe to stay in her apartment.

Oksana said she was “shocked and scared” when she saw the flames.

Roman said he didn’t hear any screaming or see anyone jump out of the windows, but saw someone who was hurt.

“There was a huge fire and when we came out, it was really warm here — like really warm,” said Roman.

Deputy Fire Chief Gord Hewitt is to give an update on the fire Monday at 1:15 p.m.