A family of four watched their house burn to the ground in Port Mellon on Aug. 16 as they waited more than two hours for help that came too late.
The family home on Dunham Road is outside the Gibsons fire protection district and it took about two and a half hours from the start of the blaze for firefighters from the private fire department at Howe Sound Pulp and Paper (HSPP) to arrive on scene and offer assistance, according to homeowner Brendan Ladwig.
By that time there was nothing left of the house to save.
Ladwig, his partner Amber Jackson and their kids, three-year-old Lachlan and 10-year-old Lilly, lost everything they owned, including all of Ladwig’s work tools and the supplies for Jackson and Ladwig’s wedding, set to take place on Aug. 19.
“Everyone’s just devastated, but thankful they’re OK,” said Ladwig’s mother Heather Gordon, who noted the family planned to press on with the wedding with whatever supplies they could muster.
The fire broke out at the family home in Port Mellon around 2 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
At the time the family was sleeping, along with Jackson’s friend Sophie Samycia and four more children who were in the home, helping prepare for the wedding.
Samycia awoke to what she thought was rain on the roof, then realized it was the sound of wood crackling from a fire in the workshop next to the house.
She alerted Jackson and Ladwig and the adults quickly got all of the children to safety before Jackson ran to a neighbour’s house to ask him to call 9-1-1.
“He then proceeded to phone both 9-1-1 and the mill,” said Ladwig, noting HSPP has in the past offered assistance to homes in the area when fires have broken out.
“What we have been told at this point from our neighbours is that multiple people were phoning 9-1-1 and eventually it got to the place where they were getting hung up on because people were telling them they were outside the protection zone, and so then nobody’s going to be coming, essentially.”
Gibsons Fire Chief Rob Michael confirmed that the 9-1-1 call was dispatched to his department, which didn’t respond because the home was outside its fire protection area, which stops at YMCA Road.
He said the Gibsons department got the call from dispatch at about 2:30 a.m. and the department member asked if there were any “life safety” issues, as that’s the only reason the volunteer department is allowed to respond to fires outside its protection area.
“There were none. Everybody was accounted for and then that’s when we denied the request to attend,” Michael said.
He said his department contacted the Provincial Emergency Program to ask for special approval to respond, but that request was denied.
“Our hands were tied. It was hard for us. It really was.”
Meanwhile, residents on Dunham Road were turning garden hoses to the blaze and dousing their own homes to keep the fire from spreading.
“The water was coming out the end of the hose, hitting the structure that it was being intended for and instantly vaporizing,” Ladwig said. “The structure wasn’t even staying wet.”
Ladwig said he saw HSPP company vehicles drive by the scene three times during the ordeal and then, at about 4:30 a.m., he said a firefighting crew from HSPP showed up to put out the fire.
HSPP media relations person Kathy Cloutier said the HSPP crew responded right after getting the call for assistance.
“I’m hearing of absolutely no delay. As soon as they got the call, they responded,” Cloutier said. “They were the first and only in terms of fire responders, from what I understand.”
Cloutier said the mill is “extremely proud” of the effort of its workers and plans to get some kind of fundraising effort together for the family, as Ladwig is a former mill employee who was laid off.
“The mill is going to see what it can do community-wide because [the family] had no insurance. They lost everything,” Cloutier said. (Gordon explained that the family wasn’t able to purchase fire insurance because their home is situated outside the fire protection district.)
Others are doing what they can to help as well. Friends have set up a GoFundMe page called Help the Ladwig Family (www.gofundme.com/2jzxees) and a Facebook page by the same name where people can offer assistance, meals, items and even accommodation while the family tries to get back on its feet.
Donations can also be deposited at CIBC through Amber’s account #71-66737.
