Thompson Fire & Emergency Services (TFES) responded to a residential fire in the Juniper area around 12 a.m. April 5.
TFES chief Mike Bourgon said his crew ended up fighting this blaze on Ash Street for the next couple hours until they finally secured the premises and left at 3:55 a.m.
Bourgon went on to say that the family managed to evacuate their home in time and only sustained minor injuries in the process.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
In a series of Facebook posts, homeowner Robyn Shlachetka, who was out of town when her alarm company called her about the fire, detailed how close her family came to perishing in the blaze despite the safety measures that had been put in place.
“My home was armed with an alarm system and a smoke detector. Fire fighters, RCMP, and EMS were on scene within 10 minutes,” she wrote April 5. “Even with these measures, my family barely made it out of the house.”
Even though Shlachetka’s older daughter and stepson escaped without any injuries, her partner Kevin and daughter Abby were both treated for smoke inhalation, with the latter also suffering from minor burns on her hands.
Shlachetka said the family is also on the lookout for one of their pets, a German Shepherd/Great Pyrenees puppy, since its carcass was not found in the wreckage of their home.
This isn’t the only major tragedy Shlachetka’s family has encountered so far this year.
Back in early March, a trio of strangers broke into their home in the middle of the day, stole some electronics and killed their Great Dane. Nobody else was physically hurt during the home invasion.
“It’s been a really awful month, to be completely honest,” she told CTV News.
As of April 7, Shlachetka said she’s finished meeting with insurance adjusters and is still in the process of picking up clothing donations, since the fire consumed most of their possessions.
While everything in the house is looking like a total loss, Shlachetka is still thankful that her family is safe and remains confident that they can endure despite all the turmoil they’ve encountered recently.
“I know it’s going to be fine,” she told CTV News. “I know the kids are going to be fine. I feel awful for our pets that got stranded in the house, especially horrible for not being there again. But, I’m hoping we can kind of hold it together, and it will be a long process too, to get established and get a new house.”
