AIGBOGUN o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.toronto_star 2006-12-12 published
Girl, 15, dies after blaze
Grade 10 student was trapped in townhouse during fire on Sunday
By Michele
HENRY,
Staff
Reporter
Friends of a 15-year-old girl who died yesterday after her house
became engulfed in flames set up a small memorial beside the
charred remains of her home within hours of finding out the tragic
news.
Friends identified the high school student as Princila
ASANTE.
Two red candles burned last night on a grassy stoop just beyond
the Humber Blvd. townhouse Princila shared with her family. It's
just one block south of where the Grade 10 student attended Archbishop
Romero Catholic Secondary School.
Described as a quiet, trustworthy girl, Princila died in hospital
after firefighters found the teenager on the third floor of her
home, where she was trapped for nearly an hour, neighbours say,
when the fire blazed out of control throughout the townhouse.
A card placed at the centre of the growing memorial, which rests
on a tree in the front yard, is scribbled with short notes to
the girl nicknamed Princess.
"I love you," reads one note. "Your spirit will continue to live
on in my heart."
One more reads "I'm going to miss your pretty face."
Friends and classmates of Princila plastered their computer screens
with images of the girl last night and many say they're in shock.
"I still can't believe it. It's very sad," said Osayanmo
AIGBOGUN,
a long-time friend, who attended Cordella Avenue Public School
with her. "She was a happy person. She always smiled." Police
tape surrounded the townhouse yesterday and wraps around the
two homes, which flank it. A car-sized heap of debris is piled
outside the front door and smoke-damaged window frames reveal
a black, burned-out interior.
A battered second floor window ledge betrays another part of
the tragic story that unfolded around 7 p.m. Sunday, after a
fire in the kitchen quickly spread.
When Haida
ADDO, 20, who also lives in the Weston Rd. and Black
Creek Doctor complex, spotted flames reaching through a first-floor
window, she ran to a townhouse beside Princila's and banged on
the door.
"Get out, there's a fire," she said yesterday just beyond the
scene, describing how she yelled for her friend to come outside.
As soon as both met on the lawn, they called to Princila's brother
Giddeon, 11, who looked dumbstruck standing in front of the house,
ADDO said, before the girls spotted Princila's mother at the
second floor. "Help, Help,"
ADDO said, recalling his mother's
cries, before the 49-year-old woman climbed onto the ledge and
jumped from the building.
She landed on the ground, breaking a leg,
ADDO said, before police
and fire trucks came to the street.
Two firefighters suffered serious burns on their hands and arms
because of the extreme temperatures inside the home.
The Ontario Fire Marshal's office is investigating.
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