A house fire this past week in Edmonton’s southwest has a family with six kids out of their home. The blaze started in the garage destroying vehicles and family items.
Dorian and Tanya St. Jules were out separately doing some errands and early Christmas shopping while their six kids and a relative were at home until they got some frightful news.
“I got a phone call from my wife saying the house is on fire, the car is on fire,” Dorian said.
The pair rushed home.
“I came home to nine fire trucks, two ambulances. Good thing my kids were safe, our neighbor took them in,” Tanya said.
The family was told the cause of the fire was a battery. Most of the flames were contained to the attached garage but smoke filled the home, leaving the couple worried for their children.
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“We have a baby, she’s only one, so we’re in and out of the hospital. She has breathing problems because it’s been getting cold out and I was worried, where would they go, what would they do,” Dorian said.
The family of eight has since been forced to find shelter elsewhere, but they said they’ve had a lot of support.
“We have Red Cross right now helping us, we have a lot of support,” Dorian said.
Now, the family is left to fix a charred garage and home filled with smoke damage. Some of the damaged items include a car and a motorcycle.
“We’re doing this all out of pocket and it’s making it very difficult,” Dorian said.
The money they had for Christmas, they said will now barely cover all that they have lost.
“We’ve had a lot of sentimental stuff damaged in this fire, unreplaceable,” Dorian said. “I wasn’t so much worried about our items I was worried about my family the kids.”
A GoFundMe has been created to support the family.
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