CANADA: Retirement home neighbours wakened by cries of help

. TORONTO, Ontario / Toronto Sun / January 20, 2009 By Chris Doucette, Sun Media ORILLIA -- After pitching in to help save residents from an early morning blaze in a retirement home, neighbours were devastated to learn two elderly members of their community were killed and several others are fighting for their lives. Still reeling from yesterday's tragedy, Wendy MacLean said she and her family were awakened just after 6 a.m. by the frantic cries of a staff member from the Muskoka Heights Retirement Residence. "We were in bed and we could hear a woman yelling, 'Help me! Help me!'" MacLean said, standing in the doorway of her home on North St. E., two doors away from the retirement home. Another area resident, Rob Pritchard, identified the staff member yelling as Denis Collins, a local resident. Pritchard, the MacLeans and others, rushed to rescue their vulnerable neighbours. MacLean said her family initially brought seven elderly neighbours into their house. But soon after, they took in several more, including one man who her husband and son had to carry up the front steps because his wheelchair was left behind. "I was really worried about them going into shock," MacLean said. "But they seemed to take it all in stride." The Maclean's children -- two boys, nine and 16, and two girls, 11 and 18 -- helped care for the elderly bunch. However, they later learned some of their neighbours weren't quite so lucky. "It's really upsetting," MacLean said. Source: Toronto Sun