Two Toronto families meet the first responders who changed their lives forever

From car crashes to home fires, first responders and members of the public often find themselves together in dangerous situations for brief, but life-changing, encounters.

But paramedics and firefighters don't usually know what happens to a patient after they've dropped them to hospital. And the people whose lives they've saved don't always get the chance to thank them.

On Thursday afternoon, two families had the chance to do just that at a reunion at Toronto Emergency Services' joint headquarters.

Catharine Motley was among them. 

On Nov. 11, 2023, Motley and her two children were critically injured in an apartment fire. Emergency responders saved their lives. 

"From what I understand, the fire possibly started in my kitchen. The paramedics and firefighters here were kind enough to get us out," Motley said. "It was a really close call."

Motley said her son suffered a brain injury from smoke inhalation, and she was in a coma for two months. 

Being able to thank the emergency responders who helped her that day, she said, was "enormous."

"To say thank you, is a huge deal," she added.

"I don't remember anything about the fire. I don't remember anything about my injuries. I don't remember anything being in the hospital. I was never in the hospital with my children when they were injured. I almost lost them and I didn't even know it."

Toronto Paramedic Brian Annett said he remembers responding to an apartment fire on Wilson Avenue, east of Keele Street. Firefighters found the mother and her two children, both one-year-olds, in a unit and pulled them out. All three were critically injured.

"I was the first paramedic on scene. Seeing a one-year-old VSA (vital signs absent) is probably one of our nightmare calls. Then you see another one," Annett said at the reunion. 

"It's basically deciding who do we help," he added.

Annett, a superintendent and advanced care paramedic, said he pulled the firefighters together, had his equipment spread out and was radioing his dispatch. He is a supervisor but had to go into "paramedic mode" at the scene because there weren't other paramedics around.