Image Credit: GoFundMe

By James Peters

House Fire

Pritchard family loses home to fire two days after welcoming newborn daughter

Dec 2, 2022 | 4:42 PM

PRITCHARD, B.C. — Just more than a day after returning home with their newborn daughter, a Pritchard family has been left with nothing thanks to a house fire.

Cortnal Kennedy-Gibson and his wife Sara welcomed baby Isla into the world on Tuesday (Nov. 29) at 7:40 a.m. The family of four, with three-year-old Stuart, came home to their rented log house near Pritcard the next day.

Thursday night, something went wrong.

“We were just getting ready for bed,” Kennedy-Gibson told CFJC Today. “I had just started to fall asleep and smoke alarms, I wake up — thank god they did. I ran downstairs, like, ‘What’s going on? What’s going on?’ I obviously could smell something right that and I saw smoke billowing out from the floor.”

The family and their dog made it out with little more than their night clothes. Their two cats were not so fortunate.

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“I got my dog out in a panic running through the smoke, but I couldn’t get the cats,” he said. “I just had the one and he just got away from me and ran upstairs. I knew that there was so much smoke upstairs at that point that… it was my life or the cat’s.”

By the time volunteer firefighters arrived, the house was too far gone to be saved. Kennedy-Gibson believes the micro grow he operates on the property may have also been destroyed by the fire and response.

While Kennedy-Gibson suspects the fire may have begun in the home’s chimney, he is not certain. The family is living with his mother in Brocklehurst while they start over.

Having lost everything and without renter’s insurance, the family is now accepting donations.

“My pride says, ‘Don’t accept anything,’ but in this kind of situation, you’ve got to put your pride to the side and say, ‘My family comes first and they need this stuff,'” he said.

A friend has set up a GoFundMe online fundraiser for the family. Those who wish to drop off items can do so at 2316 Greenfield Avenue in Brocklehurst or arrange donations by call Sara at 778-586-2570.

Despite the tragedy, Kennedy-Gibson is staying amazingly positive.

“You can look at the negative or you can look at the positive,” he said. “It’s hard to feel super down when I’ve got all these people who have already tried to help me out and we’ve got a lot of care.”

“When you’ve got that little girl there, you’re pretty happy no matter what situation you’re in.”