| Ab Seriani
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Ab Seriani R. Cantelon: I rise to tell a remarkable story of heroism and bravery. It was indeed a dark and stormy night during a recent rain and windstorm in Nanaimo. An 84-year-old woman was alone in her apartment when the power went out. To brighten the gloom, she lit a few candles. Unfortunately, they were either knocked or they fell on their own, and a fire started. The woman quickly succumbed to the smoke and fell to the floor. Fortunately, down the hall lived a retired captain from the Nanaimo firefighters, a young and fit 80-year-old, Ab Seriani. Ab smelled the smoke and raised the alarm. He knew he had to act fast. He went out in the hallway and quickly found the source of the flames. He entered the woman's apartment. It was dark and smoky, and that's a risky procedure for anyone, but as a trained and experienced firefighter, Ab knew what to do. He entered the room, found the woman on the floor unconscious but alive, and pulled her out into the relative safety of the hallway. But he didn't stop there, because the fire was still going and put the occupants of the entire building at risk. So he took the emergency firehose off the wall, re-entered the fiery room and put out the fire. When the firefighters arrived, Ab was calmly refolding the firehose back up into its place on the wall. He thought nothing of it. He was kind of nonplussed and modest about the event. As he said: "Main thing is, we got the old gal out alive." Well, I ask this House to join with me in saluting a real hero, Ab Seriani, and all of the firefighters who put their lives at risk to enter burning buildings to save lives. | |
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