HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2006-03-01, Page 21'amity of three escapes early morning
blaze that destroys home outside of Staffa
News
The Huron Expositor • March 1, 2006 Page 21
Jeff Heuchert
aimmEND
Thanks to what West Perth Fire
Chief Bill Elliot says was an "ample
amount of smoke detectors through-
out the house," a father and his two
young daughters were able to
escape their farm house safely
before it was engulfed and gutted by
fire last Thursday morning.
The fire was detected around 12:15
a.m. at the home of 38 -year-old
Keith Johns, on Line 19, just out-
side of Staffs.
The fire department responded to a
call around 12:26, says Elliot, but
by the time they arrived the fire
was well on its way, and there was
not much they could do.
"The house was completely
engulfed in fire (when we arrived)
and the roof was burnt off," he says,
adding that all that is left now is an
outer shell.
Johns and his two daughters, six-
year-old Jasmine and two-year-old
Carisia, were asleep when the
smoke detector sounded.
Johns says he jumped out of bed
and ran downstairs to the basement
where the alarm was sounding.
There ' he found a lot of smoke and
what he thought was a relatively
small fire.
"I ran upstairs, grabbed the fire
extinguisher, thinking I could con-
tain it a little bit," he says, but real-
ized upon returning, the fire had
gotten too big to be contained.
"I just dropped it (the extinguish-
er) and got the hell out of there.
There's nothing I could do."
Johns ran upstairs, grabbed his
two daughters and made his way
outside, which in itself, wasn't that
simple.
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"It was hazy and hard to breath,"
he says, adding that once outside,
he then loaded his daughters into
his vehicle and drove down to his
neighbours, where he called the fire
department.
Standing outside the morning
after the fire and looking at what's
left of the house he bought only
seven years, Johns says he's upset
and angry that this happened.
"I work hard all my life and for
what I have - and for this to hap-
pen," he says exasperated.
"I've lost everything," he adds,
except for what he had when he ran
out of the house.
"A pair of jogging pants, boots - not
even a shirt, and my two daughters
in my arms."
The family dog, Sandy, also sur-
vived the fire.
Looking back at those minutes
A -Hairy •
inside the house, Johns is glad he
dropped the extinguisher and
grabbed his kids when he did.
"I could have lost our lives in
there. It was a pretty fine line," he
says.
All the more frustrating to Johns
is that just this past summer he had
to put money into repairs to the roof
and kitchen after another fire start-
ed in his attic.
Nonetheless, Johns is determined
to still live on the same piece of
land, as soon as possible.
"I want to rebuild. I know that for a
fact."
For the time being Johns and his
daughters will stay either with his
brother or father, both of which live
nearby.
As of Monday, Elliot said they had
not yet determined a cause for the
fire.
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