The fire burning on Adams Street to ring in 2021 held a nasty surprise for the structure’s residents the next day.
Quesnel Fire Department members worked through midnight of a new year to extinguish a blaze Lynn Oddson said started in her bathroom when a fan fell onto a toilet.
After a few hours of work, the firefighters left satisfied the blaze was extinguished. A day later, when the family returned to evaluate the damage, they found embers still active, this time in the kitchen.
Assistant Fire Chief Ron Richert confirmed the fire department was called back to the same address the next day, calling it “A little spot fire that had rekindled in the attic.” The department quickly knocked down the fire again.
Oddson and her downstairs neighbour, whose home took heavy water damage, are living out of a hotel while the damage is evaluated.
“We’ve lost everything,” Oddson said.
Oddson said she has been living there for six years, and was barely able to rescue any valuables, before being ushered out due to potential damage to the ceiling.
“I had just finished grocery shopping three days before, and filled my freezer full of food,” Oddson said. “At least the family got out, at least our pets got out. The firemen were gracious enough to save my husband’s ashes, and my pet’s ashes we have in the house.”
It could have been worse for the family, who was debating whether or not to ring in the new year awake or get to bed early.
“We were thinking of going to bed, but we decided to sit up and count in the new year,” Oddson said. “We heard some crackling, smelt something funny, and [my daughter] walked where the noise was, opened the main bathroom door, and there was our toilet and the bathroom fan on top of it, just engulfed in flames.”
Oddson said she wasn’t sure what her future held since she has no family in the area, and is now without a place to stay.
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