A New Brunswick family is homeless after a major fire reduced their mobile home to ashes near Moncton.
A neighbour two houses down from the Lakeside Estates home spotted the fire and called 911 around 11 a.m. Friday.
“I looked at my wife and said ‘call 911, the house next door is on fire!’ So I ran off, took my coat and ran off to see if there was anyone there, and no one was there,” says neighbour Marc Vautour.
Witnesses say the fire ripped through the mobile home in less than an hour, destroying it and all the family’s belongings, including a beloved pet.
A family of seven lived in the home, including five children ranging in age from six to 15 years old. The children were at school and their parents were at work when the fire started.
“They lived in the home along with a family pet, a dog,” says Platoon Chief Robert Brine. “Unfortunately the family pet perished in the fire.”
The Moncton Fire Department responded with two vehicles and a tanker. Fire officials say the frigid temperatures, which reached almost -30 Celsius at times, made fighting the fire even more difficult.
“The unique conditions, the weather, the cold, our hose lines freeze, you got to try and keep the guys warm as they are cycling in and out of the fire, but mainly keeping the hose lines from freezing,” says Brine.
A neighbour says it’s a huge loss for the family.
“I am sad. These people did so much work on it to make it into a livable home. There is young children there and they have lost everything,” says neighbour Vera Bourgeois.
The Canadian Red Cross has stepped in to help the family with emergency lodging and supplies for the next two to three days.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
With files from CTV Atlantic's David Bell
