Good Samaritan alerts sleeping woman to business going up in flames

A Good Samaritan just may have saved a life on Wednesday.

Hong Cam and his wife Theresa, who have owned and run LT’s Food and Fuel near Waskesiu since 2013, said thanks to the responding fire departments and the quick thinking of a customer, their main building is still standing and operating.

Don Halkett pulled into the parking lot to look for his phone charger.

“I noticed smoke,” Halkett recalled. “My father-in law said, ‘You should probably go tell them that something is going on.’ So I come running in here and told them.”

What Halkett didn’t know was that one of the owners, Theresa Cam, was sleeping just next door to the burning building.

Surprised by the news, Hong went outside to check it out for himself and immediately told his brother to call 911. He then went upstairs to the living quarters to wake his wife from a nap and get her out of the building.

“He ran right through the back and called me and I jumped right off the bed!” Theresa recalled. “I didn’t even have time to put on my shoes.”

Crews from the Lakeland and District Fire Department, Waskesiu Fire Department, Buckland Fire Rescue, Montreal Lake Fire Department, OSS Water Hauling and SPSA Weyakwin Fire Base responded to the blaze. Through attacking the fire, they were able to prevent the fire from spreading to the main building.

“The wind helped a lot,” Hong said. “At first when the fire department arrived, they thought that we would lose the main building because the wind was facing south but all of the sudden the wind changed direction and went to the north. From my main building and the motel in the back is only five metres apart.”

However, he said the main building wasn’t completely untouched as the flames damaged the window in the living quarters. Hong said the window “exploded” but the wall and everything else was fine. He explained the fire also spread into the bush behind the motel.

“Basically, it’s so intense, it’s so fast. The wind just picked it up so quickly,” Hong said.

Both Theresa and Hong are grateful Halkett was in the right place at the right time.

The couple got the opportunity to thank their hero when Halkett returned to the gas station on Thursday.

“We were able to speak to the man himself. He didn’t even realize he was being deemed a hero or that anyone was looking for him,” said Theresa.

“I am so thankful and I strongly believe God watched over us. We are safe. It could be worse. If no one told Hong and I was asleep … it just scares me to think it could be worse.”

An update Wednesday on the Lakeland and District Fire Department’s Facebook page said no one was injured and the cause of the fire was under investigation.

Hong said he has no idea how the fire started and added if Halkett didn’t take quick action to tell him, Hong may not have known for some time and the result could have been much worse.

The Cams said they hope to rebuild the motel.

— With files from paNOW’s Ian Gustafson