Couple recounts jumping out of third-floor window during massive fire
By Arielle Mitropoulos
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MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (WMUR) — More than a month after a fire tore through their Manchester apartment building, the couple who survived by jumping from a third-story window has been discharged from the hospital and is working to find a new sense of normalcy.
Renee Shinn and her fiancé, Randy McGibbon, told News 9 in an exclusive interview Monday that they were forced to jump from their third-floor apartment on Sullivan Street after waking up to smoke on Sept. 12.
“We opened the front door. The flames were already coming up the front stairs, and they were already at the back door when I woke up,” said McGibbon.
Both were flown to a Boston-area hospital with serious injuries. McGibbon was put into a coma, where he remained incapacitated for several days.
“We got med flighted, both of us. I was in a coma for five days in the ICU,” McGibbon said. “My lungs were filled up with black tar.”
Shinn suffered severe burns to her legs, arms and face.
“I got second- and third-degree burns all over my arms, and I got them on my face too,” she said, showing the severity of her injuries. “My skin was just dripping off of me.”
She was also put into a coma after getting sick with pneumonia.
“I don’t remember much until I woke up from my coma,” Shinn said.
Their apartment building was destroyed in the fire, leaving only rubble and debris behind.
“I haven’t stopped shaking since then,” said McGibbon. “I really almost didn’t make it out … it was too late.”
“Five more minutes and we would’ve died,” Shinn said.
Investigators determined the fire was caused by the improper disposal of smoking materials on the second-floor porch in the rear of the building.
The couple lost everything in the fire, including irreplaceable items, like Shinn’s daughter’s urn.
A GoFundMe has been set up for those who want to help.
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