'Free at last': Evan McArthur dies a hero in Saint John encampment fire, says mother

Peter EvanMcArthurdied a hero and is "free at last,"according to his mother.

The 44-year-old mansuffered burns to 92 per cent of his body in afire Saturday night at a Saint John homeless encampment nearthe Main Street Viaduct over Route 1. Hewaspronounced dead at a Halifax hospital on Sunday.

Heather McArthursays she visited her son at the Saint John hospital before he was transported by helicopter. She says she'll never forget the look of him or what he told her.

"What he said to me was, 'Did they get out?'

"I had no clue what he was talking about.He said, 'I know the girls did, but I couldn't find him.'"

Evan, who was homeless and lived in a makeshift hutin Millidgeville,had been visiting friends at that encampmentand fallen asleep when the fire broke out, said McArthur.

She said he told her, "I tried to put it out after I got the girl out, but I couldn't find him, and I couldn't put the fire out. And then the next thing, I was at the tent door and somebody was pulling me out."

By then Evan started coughing and choking and had to be intubatedfor transport, said McArthur.

"You put out all the fires you need to," she told her son. "It's time to rest.

"'I want you to know only one thing, no matter what was or what is:I love you, your brother loves you, your nieces love you, and your dad loves you. That's all you have to remember.

"And then they put him to sleep and he didn't wake up."

WATCH | The charred remains of a fatal encampment fire:

The aftermath of the Saint John encampment fire that left one man dead

9 months ago

Duration 1:43

Advocates for the homeless community say something needs to be done, after a fire broke out Saturday night at an encampment off Main Street on Paradise Row.

The Saint John Fire Department and Saint John Police Force continue to investigate the cause of the fire.

According to McArthur,statements police took from the "girls gelled with what Evan was saying."

Because Evan had fallen asleep before the fire started, however, he didn't realize the man he went backto look for in the two-room tent had left earlier in the evening, she said.

McArthur visited the charred encampmentMonday and found one of her son's size 13 sneakers, burnedamong the rubble.

"In essence, Evan was a hero because those girls would not be alive if he hadn't done what he did. So in my estimation, he felt he had a purpose, and I think his purpose was served that night."

Evanbelieved in "a higher power" from a young age, said McArthur. But he also struggled with demons drugs and alcohol, whichmade him violent.

"The skin-graft doctor in Halifax told me that they could keep him, but it would take 10 to 12 surgeries with no guarantee and no quality of life.

"Or we could just let him be. And Evan always wanted to be free. He carried enough demons. So we let him be free. And he died the next morning."

"Free at last, son," his obituary reads.

Crack cocaine at 15 changed son

Evan's problems started when he was introduced to crack cocaine at age 15, said McArthur.

"Itchanged who he was mentally and physically."

Hercurious, "brilliant"little boy, who used to put salamanders in his pockets, who was involved in the churchmentoring group and had"every badge going,"who had a passion for reading and a talent for music, who loved joking around and being the centre of attention, slowly disappeared.

Evan started university, hoping to pursue psychology, but dropped out after about two and a half years, because of addiction.

"From there on, it was just one in-depth disaster after another. Bad choices, bad behaviour, bad attitudes."

McArthurwas estranged from Evan for about 15 years becauseshe found ittoo painful to watch his steady decline, and she knew there was nothing she could do to help him until he was ready to be helped.

Self-described 'trapoholic'

Although McArthur believes Evan eventually beat his battle with drugs, he continued to fight the war with alcohol.

"For some reason, he believed the alcohol was keeping him alive. And he just was so scared of what would happen to his body and his mind if he didn't have the alcohol."

He described himself as a "trapoholic," she said. He told her, "I'm trapped.I need a drink or I get violently ill. If I drink, I get violent. And I just keep going around and around and around, with no way of getting off."

Evan had odd jobs over the years, but struggled to maintain full-time work. He'd been homeless for about four years, living in the woods.

McArthurdidn't know about that until recently, as they worked to rebuild their relationship. As a mother, she worried.

"It must be horrific being homeless, it truly must be," she said. "I mean, how do you provide yourself with food and shelter and cleanliness and warmth? And he said on really cold nights, he would find friends that would take him in."

More recently, Evan would come to the family home if he wasn't drinking.

"This was his shelter in the storm."

Was rebuilding relationships

This past year was better than ever, she said, noting they celebratedChristmas together for the first time in about 20 years.

Two days before the fatal fire, Evan got to meet his nieces, who live in Alberta,for the first time over a video call, and spoke to his brother Adam for the first time in about 15 years, said McArthur.

"He had tears running down his cheeks," she said. "It was just phenomenal that he had that opportunity,and that's the first thing his brother said when I told him his brother had died. He said, 'Oh, thank goodness we got that chat in, Mom.'"

Evan also visited on the day he died, said McArthur. He had breakfast, took a shower, stayed warm.

"And then he decided he was going to go visit three of his friends in their tent.

"Apparently, it's quite normal for his friends, who all live in tents, to visit each other and just sort of group together to get warm. That's the purpose of it, I think."

'These people are valuable'

McArthur said she was very much aware of the homeless situation in Saint John and has been doing what she can to help, gathering up warm clothing and blankets, and anonymously dropping off boxes of non-perishable foods.

"But I'm not making a difference. This has gone way beyond when a man can die from living in a tent in the conditions that those tents were in. I just, I had no idea it was that crowded.

"And they tell me that's a small camp compared to some of the ones we have uptown."

Evan's solitary hutwas different,said McArthur, who went to visit it on Monday and was struck by how tidy it was, with his bed made and dishes hung.

"He took his ingenuity, he took what skills he had, and he put them into what he called his homehis little piece of heaven," she said.

I don't know how you stop all of this. I don't even know if you can. But we've got to start somewhere as a community, as a group, as a government body let's all try to get on one of the same pages so we can do something.- Heather McArthur, mother

"That's why Evan's story needs to be heard, because these are valuable people.Some of them, yes, have addictions and it causes issues, but they're all valuable in their own way."

McArthurdoesn't know what the answers are, but she saidher son's death and the fire should never have happened.

"It's not like we didn't know it was possible because we did. Every one of us has heard the horror stories."

She intends to become an advocateand to push for meaningful changesinstead of what she described as a "hit-and-miss" approach.

"I don't know how you stop all of this. I don't even know if you can," given all the socioeconomic issues involved.

"But we've got to start somewhere as a community, as a group, as a government body let's all try to get on one of the same pages so we can do something.

"We've got to have a sense of direction on this and there isn't not from the government, not from the powers that be, and not from the people that so desperately want to help. So how do we all work together if we don't have a common objective?"

No funeralservice for Evan is planned at this time. RemembrancestoOutflow Ministries of Saint John would be appreciated, his family says.