Out of the Fire, Onto the Front Page

In the above DTES Enquirer photo, a Vancouver fireman helps a woman stand upright yesterday as she speaks to an ambulance attendant.  She had just been brought down the smoky fire escape of the Washington Hotel, housing for the addicted or troubled, as firemen doused a serious fire.  Firemen must have found her in the building because she was brought down at least half an hour after the fire started; that was after the flames visible in one of the hotel windows had been doused by firemen.  The woman got into the ambulance.

This morning she was on the front page of the Province.  

The Province ran a dramatic photo, obviously taken with a zoom lens, of her looking scared as a fireman helped her down the fire escape.  (You can see her crouched on the right side of the photo.)

She was also the focus of the lead photograph on both the Sun and the Province websites.

Hi mom.

Firemen Climb onto Roof of Best Pizza to put out Fire

It's the second time it's happened. Late Monday afternoon, something on fire was thrown from the Balmoral Hotel at 159 Hastings onto the roof of Best Pizza next door at 151 Hastings. It was a sweltering sunny day. Four fire trucks and an ambulance arrived.

Three firemen climbed onto the roof of the pizza joint. A fireman later told two Vancouver Police constables -- police arrived after the firemen had finished their work -- that there was lots of trash and needles on the roof.

After the fire risk was over, a Muslim man -- one resident says he thinks the guy is Kurdish -- who runs Best Pizza, made a point of walking up to one of the firemen to thank the fire crew for coming.

Lots of Downtown Eastsiders buy pizza slices at Best Pizza -- they sell for about $1.25. A few customers claim to have been short changed there though, and one fellow says he found a couple of worthless foreign coins in his change.