Mother saves 5-year-old son from fire, as home burns down in Bonavista

A family on the Bonavista Peninsula are reeling after a fire tore through their home destroying everything they own.

Brian Tremblett, who is currently working in Iqaluit, said his wife called him Monday to tell him about the fire.

"And that's when she said the house was up in flames," he told CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show.

"The only thing she was saying was, 'the house was up in flames.' She kept repeating herself, saying 'the house is up in flames. The house is up in flames' — because she panicked."

He said the fire gutted everything in the home and his family is devastated.

"They lost everything," said Tremblett.

Tremblett said it was his wife who first noticed smoke filling up the house and soon realized a fire had broken out.

"So she ran up the stairs and grabbed my year-and-a-half granddaughter and Brittany, my daughter, and ran outside."

However, his son Riley, 20, and five-year-old grandson Carson were in a room playing games, Tremblett said, adding that Carson had a headset on.

"When Riley realized there was a lot of commotion out in the house, he went out and when he got out, he couldn't get back into his room and everything just filled up with smoke," said Tremblett.

Riley tried shouting at Carson to get out but Carson couldn't hear because of the headset, said Tremblett.

"When Brittany realized that Carson was still in there, she took off through the house," he said.

He said Brittany, 25, managed to get through the smoke-filled house and grab Carson, who was still on the bed, and ran with him outside.

"Within, I'd say, half an hour, the house was up in flames."

Tremblett said watching a video of his house go up in flames was hard, because he and his father built the home together when Tremblett got married.

"The year after, my father died and that was the last house that he built before he died," he said.

He said his home reminded him of all the time he spent with his father.

Next steps

Tremblett said his displaced family is staying with his eldest son while they look for a place to stay, which he said is going to be difficult because there aren't a lot of rental properties in the area.

Complicating matters is that, as a rotational worker, Tremblett is still far from home and won't be back in Bonavista until Feb. 24, which he expects will be a difficult homecoming. He said everything he put into the house is gone.

"The main thing is to try and find a place to rent and get a place that we can start again," said Tremblett.

However, while his family is safe, two of their three dogs died in the fire.

The community is helping the family, said Tremblett, including with some donations from local businesses, the Salvation Army, and the Red Cross.

"There's a lot of support," said Tremblett.

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