A family in Pain Court has lost everything in a house fire that caused $1-million damage just over a week before Christmas.
Chatham-Kent Fire and Emergency Services was called to the home at 7196 Pain Court Line at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday — the fire originated in the crawlspace but quickly took over the entire structure.
Fawn Vellinga says her parents Garfield and Suzette Howe got out safely, but they lost their dream home. She tells AM800 News her parents sunk every penny they had into building the home 30-years ago.
"We had an empty lot for like six years and my friends used to tease me, like, are you ever going to build a house there," she says. "Finally they did build it and he [Garfield] built a lot of it with his own hands and he was constantly doing something to the house."
Vellinga says all the family's Christmas presents went up in the blaze along with their personal belongings, but that's the furthest thing from her mind.
"I mean, we're still going to cry and think about things, but that's normal," she says. "We have each other and the fire chief said we're lucky that we do have my parents and Ruby because, had they been sleeping, they wouldn't be here."
She says the family returned to survey the damage Thursday and there's nothing left.
"There was a gentleman there, I'm not sure if he had more to do with the clean-up, but I did ask him about the insurance and stuff like that," says Vellinga. "It's going to take awhile, six months to a year to get them back into a house, but he said not to worry and things will be okay."
Vellinga says Garfield and Suzette will stay with her and other family members in the meantime.
GoFundMe and Facebook fundraisers have already gathered close to $2,000 to help the family get through the holidays while they deal with the insurance company. She says the entire family is overwhelmed by the support and appreciates the efforts made by firefighters.
The cause of the fire is undetermined, but it has been deemed accidental.