Neighbours of an Elmira family whose house was destroyed by a fire revealed how they saved them by knocking on their door and waking them up late Sunday night.
Other nearby friends had raised more than $8,700 via GoFundMe by Wednesday, three days after the blaze gutted the bungalow of Mark and Jessica Docken and their two sons, daughter and several pets.
The fire, which had 40 firefighters from Elmira and Floradale departments fighting to contain the blaze, destroyed Mark and Jessica Docken’s home. [Submitted]
The inferno, the cause of which remains unknown, ripped through the home at 125 Barnswallow Dr. about 11 p.m., with flames that could be seen more than a kilometre away.
“I heard remarks that people could see the smoke out on Arthur Street,” said volunteer firefighter Mike Martin, who lives a couple houses down from the family.
“His pager hadn’t gone off yet; our neighbour next door actually came over and woke us up that there was a fire,” said Caitlin Martin, the volunteer firefighter’s wife.
“I had all the curtains closed, and I just opened up the curtains and thought, ‘this is not good,’” she said.
“It was a big orange glow,” and it smelled like “a really big campfire.”
The couple threw on some heavier clothes, but still in their pyjamas, ran outside to help in the chaos, finding the home already engulfed in flames.
The Docken’s next-door neighbour Dave Mollett pounded on their door to wake them up, saving their lives, Mike told the Observer.
“The quick action by our very own Jess Reichard and her husband Dave as they were first to notice the fire and immediately notified the family,” said Nicole Paquette, an EDSS teacher, who noted in an email that Shawn Docken was a Grade 9 student at the school.
“Which was no easy feat at nearly midnight when household members were asleep,” she added.
“As Jess and Dave live next door to this house, their house was unfortunately also negatively impacted by the fire,” noted Paquette.
“Kudos to him because he heard the loud bangs, woke up and saw the fully engulfed house, so if it wasn’t for his actions, it could have been a heck of a lot worse,” Mike said.
The whole family managed to escape with no injuries.
“We ensured everyone was out of the house,” Mike added. His wife was running around the neighbourhood trying to collect hoses to start wetting the side of the nearby dwellings and the dry leaves and grass.
“It was unreal the number of sparks and ash that were coming this way – it was landing on the roofs and in the back.”
He noted there were hoses running out of his home, all over the place in his backyard.
“But even that, there was so much flames coming back through the trees, and that was the scary part.”
“It’s definitely scary because I know how quickly the blaze can travel,” Mike added.
He immediately called dispatch, “saying it was a fully involved structure fire.”
Forty firefighters from Elmira and Floradale were there to combat the blaze that night, Woolwich deputy fire chief Craig Eveson told The Observer.
“Upon arrival, crews confirmed a fully involved working fire at the residence. Firefighters conducted thorough searches of the home, as well as neighbouring properties, to ensure no occupants or pets were inside,” he said.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control in about 30 minutes, with residents running around helping in their pyjamas.
“Fire crews worked both internally and externally to control the fire, which was brought under control by approximately 11:40 p.m.
“Crews remained onsite until 2:30 a.m., with a fire watch posted,” Eveson said.
“The night was pretty crazy, and the whole night was scary,” Caitlin said.
“So many people came out to help out, so that was fabulous,” she added, noting about 10 people came to aid in the crisis.
That aid included people bringing out shoes, as there were others walking in their bare feet, Mike noted
The residents from the block “banded together,” he said.
“You see everyone come together and that’s the best thing in this tragic situation, and hopefully they can rebuild as quickly as possible.”
He noted that the family is currently staying with a neighbour.
There is no damage estimate currently, and the investigation remains ongoing.
