Brendan beat himself up for years, that he hadn't grabbed his rat's cage. The animals were in the basement and died of smoke entillation. Mattie their mini rex bunny was on the deck and a fireman found him cowering in his cage, took him out and put him in a bucket, covered it with his jacket against his chest and brought him to safety. Cecil was in the process of immigrating to Canada from Tioga, PA. He had met Leanna online 4 years before that and had come for a visit and stayed. He phoned immigration a couple of days after the fire, told them what happened and said he thought that all his papers were gone. This was thousands of dollars and 4 years worth of work ( immigration to Canada can take 7-11 years from the states), they informed him that he had 24 hours to report to the authorities and they were deporting him and we would have to start over. Well that one little corner of the house, were Mattie had been rescued was still standing and in the corner covered with drywall, burned beams and fire retartant, we found the brief case with his paperwork just 12 hours before we were to drive him to Vancouver. We as a family seen alot of miracles result from that fire. The firemen were mostly fathers of the kid's friends and they all kept in touch with the children for years, a man came out of the night and helped Cecil drag the dogs to safety, Mattie surviving by the fast thinking and compassion of one animal loving firefighter, the paperwork being saved and the children who had lost home, possessions and pets were not to lose a father, 4 generations of people living in a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house for 9 months ( Leanna's kids were so tramatized she couldn't leave them, Cecil couldn't work as he was on visitor status and had back surgery ), an 80 year old grandmother hugging and kissing smoke drenched great grandchildren and tucking them against her to sleep, crying with relief she didn't lose them, and a whole community dropping off truck loads of bedding, clothing and furniture to help out. We often take life for granted. Sometimes we need to be reminded of the miracles.
ray:7 years ago yesterday, Sept 9 was the anniversity of my daughter's house burning to the ground. I was woke up at 2 am with a frantic phone call that her house was on fire, but they got all of the kids out. I will always remember that phone call and the drive out to her place, the terror and fear I felt. As we drove down the highway, fire trucks passed us and we could see the flames shooting 200 - 300 feet in the air. I jumped from the vehicle and ran to the neighbours to see for myself that they were all there, all alive. My son in law who had just had back surgery, and was on heavy pain meds, woke to smoke at waist level. They had practiced fire routines, so the eldest was to take care of each of the little ones. They got the kids on the first floor out, except for my 2 year old grand daughter. They couldn't find her. Finally they heard a little voice from the covers in a corner, say Daddy. The fire had started right next door to her in the laundry room. Cecil came back in through the fire and went downstairs to get Brendan out, he was 12 and sleeping in the basement bedroom. All the front of the house was engolfed so they had to come back up through the living room and flames to safety. The house exploded minutes after they were safe. Cecil and a stranger were able to save the dogs penned on the side of the house, but all their little pets inside were lost. I think of how close it was to them not getting out and thank God each and every day for their lives.
