Family displaced by fire a second time

BY NADINE ARMSTRONG

The Hants Journal

NovaNewsNow.com

Adam and Tora Brown spent most of last week picking their way slowly through the rubble of their mobile home, which was lost to fire April 29.

“Sickening is what this is,” said Adam as he surveyed the damage. The family of five lost virtually all of their belongings in the fire because what small items Brown was able to recover were so saturated by smoke as to render them useless.

This is not the first time the Brown family has been stricken by fire. Their last mobile home was destroyed in a similar fashion in 2001; neither home was insured.

“That’s it; I'm never living in one of these again,” Brown said. If there was any luck to be had it’s that no one was injured in either incident.

“If this had happened just an hour or so earlier, none of us would be here,” he said. The couple was alerted to the fire just after 8:30 that morning. The two older boys, Cody, 11, and Blair, 9, had already left for school. The youngest son Drake, aged five, was planning to spend the day with mom.

“When I first smelled the smoke I thought it was Adam starting up the woodstove,” Tora said. It didn't take long for her husband to sniff out that the source was electrical. The current mobile home was circa. 1973, “when they still allowed the use of aluminum wiring,” he said.

Adam suspects the fire may have started in one of they boy's bedrooms where the plug supporting electronic games may have overheated. Quick thinking led him to shut off the main power switch while his wife and youngest son ran to his mother’s home next door to dial 911.

‘So hot, our facemasks started to melt’

Summerville Fire Department Chief Chris Spence was first on the scene that morning and said even with a quick response there was little chance the home could have been saved. “With mobile homes you're lucky to even have walls standing after a fire; that in itself was an accomplishment,” he said. The call was received at the Summerville Station at 9:08 that morning and within 11 minutes he and another firefighter were onsite. Spence said, however, that when they attempted to enter the home the smoke and heat prevented any further advancement. “It was so hot, our facemasks started to melt.”

Mutual aid from Brooklyn and Windsor were called in with Brooklyn Fire Chief Mark Dearman assisting with command of the units.

Although the Summerville Dept. was able to ventilate some of the heat, teams were called out of the home once Spence realized the rafters and portions of the floor were giving way.

“At that point the structure showed signs of weakening and the fire was fully involved.” The only thing firefighters could do was extinguish the fire externally. “We knew there was no way to salvage anything,” he said.

Calls of assistance

Spence was aware of the family’s previous home fire and said it was very unfortunate to see this happen again. He had taken the initiative that day to contact the Canadian Red Cross on the family’s behalf. “This is very sad,” he said. “I know that last time the community rallied together and helped and I hope that can happen again.”

Adam says he has received many calls offering assistance and donations of furniture. “That’s the trick to something like this. We're going to need all that stuff, but right now we have no place to put it.”

The family is staying next door with his mother until the Red Cross can find alternative accommodations. “The kids have always had a spare bed at their grandmother’s, but right now my wife is on one sofa and I'm on another. We can't stay there forever.”

The Red Cross has been able to assist with emergency clothing for the boys and general toiletries, but this family is starting over from scratch, for a second time. “It's not as bad as it was the first time,” Brown said. “It was in the first fire that we lost all the memories, all the non-replaceables.”

But for the three young boys, non-replaceable items are things like Cody's recent birthday gift of a remote-control truck and for little Drake, a new package of crayons. Since the two oldest were in school at the time their bookbags, shoes and coats are still intact, but every other item has been lost.

All the same, Adam said his sons have been very resilient. “Cody is really into drama right now. He has two school plays this week and hasn’t missed a beat.”

However, it’ll be a tough go. Tora works as a commissioner in Halifax and Adam is an on-call janitor with the school board. Where they go from here is anyone's guess.

“I know people want to help, but it's hard to know where to start when you have nothing at all,” Adam said. “I hate to say this, but what we need most right now is a home.”

The couple owns the land outright where they live and there is no outstanding mortgage on the mobile home.

Plans for fundraisers are already in the works. The Hants Journal will post those events in the coming weeks. Donations to the family can be made through the Canadian Red Cross (902) 424-1411 or by contacting the family directly at 757-3270. The boy's wear clothing sizes 12 and 8.