A farm fire from last week has left a Smith Falls, Ont.-area family without their home or business. While the damage has been devastating, the family remains thankful for the support they are receiving.
“Francis called me on the phone and he said, ‘There’s a fire.’ And I said, ‘There’s a fire. How bad?’ He goes, ‘Just come home,'” says Baldwin.
Its been over a week since a fire left Debbie Baldwin and her partner Francis without their home, and the smell of smoke still lingers in the wreckage.
Northern Lights Equine, located just outside of Smiths Falls, was their home and horse farm that was destroyed by flames around 2 p.m. on Sept. 23.
“That whole opening and the deck was our home where we lived upstairs,” Debbie said, explaining the wreckage.
While the 18 horses on site were able to avoid the fire, their daughter’s pet bunnies and flock of chickens could not be saved. But worst of all is the financial damage.
“Awful, scary. This could have been the middle of the night, and if it was the middle of the night, it was our bedroom. And we would have had horses inside. But to watch it all go, was really, really tough,” said Debbie.
“Because our life, this is our life, this is our passion. So, to lose everything…devastating.”
Their first priority is making sure they have a place to stay on the property, as they continue to care for the horses into the winter.
Baldwin says, “We have to stay on site. We have to stay for the horses. So right now our well is not working. We’re not sure why, so we have to get that fixed. We have to have a home for the winter.”
In the meantime, their neighbours, the Webbers, are letting them live in an RV on their front lawn, while the horse community has been assisting with supplies.
“They’ve been bringing blankets, buckets, feed. We lost all of our feed. We got a delivery that morning of $300 worth of feed, all gone. Food, clothing because we have nothing, right. It’s all gone. Boots. Work boots,” the couple said.
“To be able to just work and sift through stuff. So, just tons of stuff. And it keeps coming and it’s just wonderful.”
As Baldwin attempts to rebuild again from scratch, a GoFundMe page has already raised over $10,000 for the family.
With a grateful heart, Baldwin said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the generous donations. All of the support, all of the kind words.
“Thank you to the people who have come forward to say, ‘We will help you.'”