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The last few weeks have been anything but normal for Hannah Soroski since her condo building in the Sutherland community burnt down.
Soroski has managed to make it through these dark and confusing times thanks to the love and support from her closest friends and family members.
She says the biggest key to moving on from this tragedy is taking things slowly.
“You just have to take it day by day. Every day is a little bit different and I think that’s just how grief goes,” Soroski admitted.
“Some days you’re still just a little bit in shock that it happened, some days you’re kinda sad and some days you’re a little bit angry, but you just gotta take it one step at a time.”
Hannah Soroski (middle right) and her family at a gathering. (Hannah Soroski/Submitted)
Soroski remembers even the little details from that night and describes how her quiet Friday night turned into chaos within minutes.
“It’s so crazy to look back on because it was just a lazy Friday night for me. I had never been so aware of time that night, it was 10:33(pm) and I was going to go to bed and then something told me, ‘I just gotta clean my house’,” Soroski said.
At 11:10pm, Soroski turned on her dishwasher and started to water her plants before hopping into bed.
Just ten minutes later at 11:20pm, she started to hear some cracking noises.
“I heard some cracking sounds and I just had assumed that one of my lids got caught in the dishwasher and was making some noise.
“It took me a few minutes until I heard a really big crack and I got up and walked into my kitchen, and next thing I knew, my whole back wall was (covered),” Soroski said.
Her first instinct was to exit the building immediately before grabbing some essential items.
“I was a little bit in shock, next thing I knew I had my phone in my hand and I was running out. I was like ‘okay, I think this is actually a fire’ and just a total shock.”
“I ran out to the side street and I just saw my whole condo was engulfed in flames. It happened so fast, it was crazy.”
Just before getting to safety and making a run to save her life, Soroski remembered one very important item from her building that she needed to get.
It was her a necklace dedicated to her father.
“I remember running down the hallway and thinking my dad had passed away a couple of years ago and so I have a necklace of his. I ran into my room and grabbed my necklace and I’m so grateful that I still have that,” Soroski said.
Unfortunately, the fire took away several other important pieces that meant the world to Soroski and her late father.
“I did lose all of my dad’s things which is the toughest loss. It’s kind of like you have to grieve him all over again, which is quite painful.
“I had a really beautiful picture of my dad and it was such an antique, it was printed on cardboard. It was a picture of him when he was two and his dad, it was such a beautiful photo. That was a devastating loss for me forsure.”
One of the best ways for Soroski to cope has been through shared experiences with her condo neighbours and what some of them went through.
She says her one neighbour should be labelled a hero for what she did on the night of the fire.
“It’s really hard to think about some of the seniors in there. I’m so happy that they were all able to walk out. I think of my neighbour across, she is in my mind, a hero,” Soroski said.
“When she heard the fire, she went out and started knocking on everyone’s door and yelling, ‘Fire!’ and then she ended up getting stuck in the condo.
“Next thing you know, she turned the lights on and she just started waving her arms at the balcony and then we see about seven firefighters with a ladder just run up this balcony and carry her down. It was just such a crazy sight to see.”
There were no deaths from the fire, according to reports.
Firefighters needed almost eight hours to secure control of the structured fire and an additional seven hours to put it out.
Soroski spent the night at her brother’s place but was unable to actually get any sleep for obvious reasons.
The next day, she returned to the scene to see the entire building destroyed.
“I remember I called my mom and I said, ‘I think you need to take me back to the condo. I need to see it.’
“It was just devastating. The smell was awful, and just seeing everything like your whole life was just in a pile of things. It was just such a weird sight to see.”
Trying to make sense of reality, Soroski managed to return to work just days later on Monday. She said work would be the best thing for her to help distract her from everything, even if it was on a smaller scale to start.
“I think I just wanted a little bit of a normal routine. The hardest part is that you lose your home, and that’s kind of like you lose your safety.”
She says the biggest takeaway is that through this whole experience, she has the best support team of friends and family helping her navigate through the challenges.
“My friends and family were incredible. I’ve had so many people give me donations, clothes and lots of us lost our vehicles in the parkade, so my friend gave me her car.
“It’s just an incredible community. Everyone just wants to help and the messages I got and the cards, it makes me feel so loved. People are good and it’s so great to have that support.”