Miserable Misfortune

"I'm really grateful that my girls and I are OK and that my parents were not there because, as I stood outside and watched (firefighters) break all my dad's windows, I kept thinking, 'Oh my God'."

There are so many heart-breaking events that occur to people already stressed throughout the normal trajectory of their lives. Take a retired man who, along with his wife who still is in the workforce, who have taken in their 26-year-old daughter to live with them in their townhouse, along with her two very young children.

The young woman's mother is a registered nurse, as well as being a trustee at her local school board; fully involved in the community. The young mother of a four-year-old and a 7-month old child is a student at Algonquin College. She was alone at home with her two young children when she noticed smoke emanating from a basement potlight.

Although Ottawa firefighters arrived expeditiously, there was so much damage to their end unit townhouse that the insurance company contends it will take at least eight months before repairs to restore the interior can be completed. Additionally, their insurance coverage was insufficient to cover the destroyed contents of the home.

All five of the former occupants of the burned-out townhouse are now staying temporarily at the home of their son and brother. This personal calamity that has befallen good people who most certainly don't deserve this kind of misery is unfortunate beyond words. "I am like most people. You never expect to lose everything (in a fire)" said Richard Ablett.

"On Friday I just broke down. I miss my home, I miss my bed and my space and that sense of being able to just breathe. That's gone. This is home no matter what." Shannon Ablett