When the Chartwell Carrington House burst into flames, staff and first responders rushed to evacuate more than 100 seniors out of the three-story retirement home and miraculously everyone made it out safely. Or so they thought.
“She was a fighter. She did not want to die in that fire,” said Trina Ridley, Hellstrom’s granddaughter.
105-year-old Elsie Hellstrom was left behind – only found two hours after the fire started, in a stairwell, choking on smoke and inundated with the cold water being used to fight the fire.
“She said, I thought I was going to die, freezing in a fire,” said Pamela Callaghan, Hellstrom’s granddaughter.
Her granddaughters, speaking publicly for the first time, say firefighters only went back in to look for her when their cousin realized Hellstrom wasn’t at the evacuation centre, despite being told by Chartwell staff that everybody was accounted for.
Hellstrom was taken to the hospital, where she died of smoke inhalation soon afterwards, on March 14th. Before she passed, she was able to tell her family what she went through.
“Her exact words were, ‘I was trying and trying and trying to get out, I kept calling for help, I kept pressing my alert button,’ and she goes, ‘And then I’d have to wait for the water to go away, and then I’d start calling out for help again,” shared Callaghan.
Hellstrom’s family says nobody at the evacuation centre had a list of who had made it out, which opened the door for her to go unaccounted for in the chaos of the fire. The BC Coroners Service says it’s now investigating her death.
“We have been unable to obtain any kind of timeline, procedures that were in place, they should have had a list, they should have been checking people off, that’s kind of pretty standard when it comes to fire evacuation,” said Ridley.
In a statement to CityNews, the retirement home’s operator, Chartwell, offered its condolences to the family.
The family said it was the first they’d heard from them.
The statement went on to say, “Our employees responded immediately to a rapidly evolving emergency and acted in accordance with the direction of emergency responders.”
“The actions of our employees during and after the fire have been praised by emergency response and health authority partners involved in the incident.”
“We are aware of the allegations that have been made regarding the emergency response. As this matter has been referred to our insurers, it would not be appropriate to comment on specific allegations or speculate on circumstances that continue to be reviewed. We continue to cooperate fully with all relevant authorities and our insurers throughout these processes.”
Mission RCMP told CityNews the matter is not being investigated criminally, but the investigation into the fire itself remains open.
As such, neither the City of Mission nor Mission Fire Rescue would comment beyond offering their condolences to the family. There’s still no timeline on when the investigation will be completed.
As they wait for answers – Hellstrom’s family says they’re still grateful for the work that happened on the ground on that harrowing day.
From employees running into the burning building, to the firefighters who pulled Hellstrom out, to the hospital staff who cared for her through her final days.
“We got to say our goodbyes, and we got to have some closure, and she got to see us all,” said Ridley.
But for somebody who lived 105 years – they say they’re still heartbroken she was robbed of a few more.
“She wanted to live.”
