Hero dies saving her granddaughters

WINNIPEG -- An Interlake community is rallying around the family of a woman who died saving her granddaughters from a roaring house fire Tuesday.
Elaine Spray, 56, was killed when the home she shared in Deerhorn, Man., with her daughter Jakki and her three granddaughters Jo-Lene, 8, Danielle, 6, and Layne, 2, caught fire early Tuesday morning.
"She basically died saving her grandkids. I think it's important that she gets credit for that," said Elaine Spray's niece Laurel Johannson, who contacted the Sun after a neighbour had incorrectly identified the victim as Diane Loewen.
Smoke in home
Johannson said Jakki awoke Tuesday to find smoke in the family home. She wrapped two-year-old Layne -- who is named after her grandmother -- in a blanket and helped her out of the burning house through a window.
When Jakki came around to Danielle's bedroom, she found Elaine Spray had already helped her granddaughter out and was in the process of trying to pass Jo-Lene through a window to escape the blaze.
"As she was passing her, she collapsed," Johannson said of her aunt.
Jakki then tried to reach her mother, but couldn't get her out.
She rushed the girls to a neighbour's -- the Kells -- and returned with them to try to rescue Spray, but the fire was too violent by then.
Elaine was found passed out with the family pets -- who also died -- huddled by her side, Johannson said.
She was taken to hospital in Eriksdale, where she later died.
"She was an amazing person all around," Johannson said.
A trust fund has been set up at the Eriksdale Credit Union to benefit the family, which has received donations of clothes and dishes and an offer to stay in the Kells' mobile home.
"They've lost everything," Johannson said. "In a community that small, everyone is trying to help. It's a huge tragedy."
Johannson said Jo-Lene is still in intensive care in a Winnipeg hospital suffering from smoke inhalation, but her condition is improving. The rest of the family escaped the blaze without any major injuries, she said.
The trust account is accessible at the credit union's three branches in Eriksdale, Moosehorn and Ashern under the name Jakki Lynn Spray.