DS woke me up at around 4:25, totally freaking out. He was complaining of a strange noise. I didn't hear anything, so I went into DD's room who was now out of bed. There was a noise that seemed to be coming from the furnace vent. And an orange light outside. Weird, I pulled the curtain open...

The neighbour's house behind mine was on fire.


The whole back side of the house was in flames, a thick sheet reaching higher than the roof of the two story house. There were people on the driveway, running, yelling and turning back towards the house. The noise of the fire was amazing, DS called it a screaming truck noise. It was a screaming roaring whoosh.

I called 911. The fire had already been reported.

I got my camera and the kids and I watched the fire. I took a bunch of short 1 minute videos of the fire, and then some pictures later. We watched the fire take over the house. The roaring sound stopped after awhile. That might have been when the natural gas was shut off to the house. The fire department took 15-20 minutes to arrive. They did not enter the house. They started pumping water on it, and putting out the grass fires. The fire went 2 or 3 times the height of the house into the sky. The fire was fierce! There were sparks in the smoke above the fire, going far, far up into the sky. There were larger pieces of burning or red hot material falling down from the smoke.



I messaged my next door neighbour, NDN, she had two of the three kids that live there at her house, plus the dog. The 2 parents and 2 kids were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation. NDN said they were covered in soot and stunk of smoke. I asked her if everyone got out...

No. :(

Their boy didn't. He is special needs, I don't know the details of that.

NDN's husband phoned around 7am and asked if he could walk the RCMP over to talk to me. Okay, but give me a couple minutes to get dressed! Giving my statement was interesting. We sat at my kitchen table. DS was with us, but I suggested that DD go get dressed, and she disappeared to her room and stayed there. They recorded the interview and didn't seem to believe some of my answers to their questions. Looking back on it, I think that might be an interview technique. Play it that way to make you keep talking to defend yourself? I was stating the truth, I had nothing to defend so I simply stood by my words. They wanted to know if I had been in their house, and how well I knew them. DS gave his account of the fire, and they seemed to be amused about that. They confirmed to me that the boy was missing. As they were leaving, they noticed my camera on the counter and asked if I took pictures, then requested a copy of the video I took.

NDN told me what the family told them about the fire. They woke up because they smelled smoke or something burning. They looked all through the house but couldn't find anything. They got the kids up. But then one of the hallways was full of flames so they got out. Don't know why one kid didn't get out.

My kids went to school as usual this morning. As NDN and I were talking in my house, a CBC news van pulled up. NDN and I quickly agreed that we aren't talking to reporters. The reporter was nice about it, and asked if she could film from my backyard which I said yes to. After NDN left, I went out and talked to the reporter who was filming at the far end of my yard. I did describe what I saw when I first looked out - a wall of flame taller than the house. Later, at work I looked on the CBC website, and my words were in the article. All the online news articles said that one child was missing. Missing, not still in the house.

So I go to work, shaken up and telling people what happened. The RCMP did come pick up my DVD. But the came back after a while and said they could not get it to play. Ugh! I had brought my camera to work, so showed them on the camera, then allowed them to take my camera with them. The head of the library board happened to be there, and pulled me aside asking is it really okay for them to take your camera, are you okay with this? I assured her that I was okay. I also told the RCMP I'd be home soon - and actually met them at my front gate. He gave back my camera and I told him I'd try burning the DVD in a different way. Which I did, then tested it out on a different computer, and it worked. So as I type, the DVD is sitting here waiting for someone to pick it up (if at all). They (as in the main guy who is doing the talking) was much warmer to me from the first time I talked to him. Smiling and thanking me.

When I got home, the wind had shifted, blowing the smoke from the still smouldering fire directly into my yard. Yuck! I kept the kids indoors because that smoke is going to be toxic with chemicals from burning paint, carpet, vinyl, etc.

The kids and I are watching the various newscasts. All 3 local news stations are reporting live from the scene. I can see them from my back window. And I'm seeing pictures of my house on the news, and pictures of the burned down house taken from my yard. And other neighbours (who I don't know), commenting on the fire (the stupid stuff, like how sad, I have kids too, etc.). I don't want to be on the news saying that stupid stuff. The news did say they found the body of the boy. He isn't missing anymore.