Edmonton family of 8 displaced by fire – Edmonton

A house fire last week in southwest Edmonton left a family with six children no longer at home. The fire broke out in the garage, destroying vehicles and family heirlooms.

Dorian and Tanya St. Jules had gone out separately for Christmas errands and shopping while their six children and one parent were at home until they received appalling 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.

« Smoke just came out of the garage and when the firefighters arrived they opened [the garage door] and it went completely black,” the couple’s son, Jordan Park, said.

“I came home with nine fire engines, two ambulances. Luckily my children were safe, our neighbor took them in,” Tanya said.

The family was informed that the cause of the fire was a battery. Most of the flames were confined to the attached garage, but smoke filled the house, leaving the couple worried about their children.

“We have a baby, she is only one year old, so we come and go to the hospital. She has breathing issues because it’s cold outside and I was worried, where would they go, what would they do,” Dorian said.

The family of eight have since been forced to seek refuge elsewhere, but they said they received a lot of support.

“We currently have the Red Cross helping us, we have a lot of support,” Dorian said.

Now the family must fix a charred garage and a house filled with smoke damage. Among the damaged items are a car and a motorcycle.

“We do all of this out of pocket and it makes it very difficult,” Dorian said.

The money they had for Christmas, they said, will barely cover all they lost.

“We had a lot of sentimental things damaged in that fire, irreplaceable,” Dorian said. « I wasn’t so worried about our items as I was about my family, the kids. »

A GoFundMe has been created to support the family.

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