Burnaby NewsLeader, April 27, 2012

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REFLECTING ON A BIT OF EXCESS

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ICBC SEEKS RULING page TO BLUNT NT STRIKE

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FROM TALKING TO WALKING

FRIDAY

T H I N G S

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APRIL 27 2012

www.burnabynewsleader.com

You’ll never be at a loss for fun and interesting ideas for what to do again. Check out the NewsLeader’s special 101 Things magazine in today’s paper.

Burnaby and

New Westmin

ster

UniverCity moving to next phase Wanda Chow wchow@burnabynewsleader.com

MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER

Remigiusz Janus shows his neighbour Ilia Mochev how to stay a little safer in a Àre during a visit to Burnaby’s No. 1 Àre hall. Janus, a former ÀreÀghter in his native Poland, pulled Mochev from his burning apartment last week after a pot of cooking oil caught Àre after he had collapsed. The Burnaby Fire Department presented Janus with a certiÀcate of appreciation during their visit on Wednesday.

Kitchen fire could have been fatal Burnaby hero recognized for saving neighbour Wanda Chow wchow@burnabynewsleader.com

Burnaby senior Iliya Mochev was cooking with oil in his Inman Avenue apartment when he collapsed. “He fell to the Àoor, he’s an elderly man, he was weak and didn’t have the strength to get back up or exit,” said Burnaby Fire Department Capt. Dave Wensley, who noted that due to language barriers the man’s daughter translated his story. “The pot of oil started on ¿re, he watched the ¿re grow and grow. He

couldn’t get out, the smoke came closer.” Luckily for Mochev, down the fourth-Àoor hallway Remigiusz Janus saw the smoke and called 911. He was instructed to pull the building’s ¿re alarm and exit. But before leaving the building, something made him go into the unit the smoke was coming from to make sure his elderly neighbour got out safely. Janus, originally from Poland where he had been a ¿re¿ghter himself, told Burnaby ¿re¿ghters the apartment was dark and ¿lled with smoke. He couldn’t hear or see anything and got

about eight feet in the door when he realized the ¿re was getting too hot. Just as he turned to leave, he stepped on something. It was Mochev’s arm. That’s when he heard his cries of, “help, help.” Janus was able to carry Mochev out of the apartment—wrestling with him at one point when he wanted to run back inside—down the stairs and into the building’s lobby just as ¿re¿ghters arrived. On Wednesday, Janus was recognized for his heroic actions in the ¿re which happened on the early afternoon of April 16. “I investigated the ¿re,” said

Wensley. “There is no way anyone would have survived that if he was left in that room at that time.” Wensley said it was still unknown why Mochev collapsed, but that he suffered burns to his head and hands. Both he and Janus suffered from smoke inhalation. Damage was mostly contained to Mochev’s suite, Wensley said, adding total building damage was estimated at $100,000. “It was pretty good of [Janus] to enter that room when it was that thick of smoke,” he said, “because usually you need a mask on and that. But it was pretty heroic, actually, what he did.”

YOUR BURNABY REALTOR®

BRIAN VIDAS 604.671.5259

Brian Vidas Personal Real Estate Corporation 3010 Boundary Road, Burnaby

www.BrianVidas.com

centre realty

3 Bed, 2 Bath 2 Level Corner Unit Townhouse $324,800 2 Bed & Den, 2 Bath Rooftop Deck Townhouse $499,000

The fourth and ¿nal phase of the UniverCity development next to Simon Fraser University is getting closer to reality. The proposed master comprehensive development zoning for Phase 4 would create eight development sites complete with guidelines and provide for a neighbourhood park all in a 13.3-acre (5.4 hectare) section at University Drive East and Tower Road. The proposal will be the subject of a public hearing on May 29, at 7 p.m. in council chambers at Burnaby city hall. The Phase 4 site is currently occupied by parking lots. Density from its UniverCity Slopes neighbourhood was transferred to the Phase 3 Highlands area in 2010, creating a denser, more urban community near the commercial core there, and a lower density area in the Phase 4 Slopes area south of University High Street, according to a city planning report. Phase 4 will include up to 714 housing units, compared to the maximum of 1,080 units in Phase 1 and maximum of 1,255 units in Phase 3.

Please see NEW PARK, A3


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