Loss
On the night of February 23rd, 2009 my mother, brother and I lost our home in a tragic house fire. My little brother was not home at the time but my mom, dog, cat and I were all in bed. At about 12:30 a.m I decided to flick on my iPod and drift off to sleep to the sweet sounds of music. The screeching sound of our smoke detector shook me out of my daze and I sprang out of bed to see what was going on. Knowing our smoke detector goes off on an often occurrence I thought nothing of it.
As I rounded the corner from the staircase I saw a sight that I will never forget as long as I live. Our beautiful plum coloured leather couch was getting licked up by huge orange flames. My mom was already trying to put out the fire with a blanket which was only feeding the fire oxygen and sending flame engulfed papers flying all over the living room. My first instinct was to call 911, and now thinking about that phone call just seems like a horrible nightmare. The first thing I was told to do was to get my mom and I out of the house. I dashed up the stairs faster then I have ever moved in my life and tried to find my little chihuahua shih tzu, Belle. She was under my mom's bed which was right above the fire and there was no way I could get her out, and I had to pray that she would be safe.
As I came down the stairs I saw that the fire had grown an amazing amount in less then a minute. The doorway in which we wanted to get out was totally consumed in flames. We had to escape out our back door where all there was surrounding us was thigh deep snow. I turned back to look into the windows of my house to see the blinds falling off in a burst of flames and our lamp shades simply turning into ashes. I watched in a shocked horror as the fire made its way up the staircase and sending a horrible black smoke into every corner of the house. At this point I could barely think and I started running through the snow and ice towards the road. We live amongst many condos and I knew it may be hard for the firefighters to find exactly where to go.
I stood and cried hysterically for what seemed like hours, finally I heard the sirens coming for us. My bare feet were sticking to the icy ground and I was only wearing thin pajamas but I could not feel a prick of coldness, only fear rang throughout my body. As the firefighters started putting out the fire I was just screaming for my little dog. More firetrucks came, and then ambulance and police cars started showing up from every direction. When my dad arrived I collapsed into his arms in a sobbing mess. He carried me into the back of a police car where they started layering blankets on me and told me to stay there and not move. I had no idea where they had taken my mom and all I could picture in my head were flames beyond flames eating up my house and destroying all of our possesions. 
Slight Relief
I saw a firefighter walking towards the police car holding a dog kennel that was black as can be. Inside was Belle, my little puppy shaking and scared. I was happy for a moment to have her back in my arms. I had also found out that my mom was in a near by ambulance and we would soon both be taken to the hospital. Thankfully my cat Gucci escaped when the firefighters went in and he was all right. The police kept asking me numerous questions that I could barely answer because all I could do was cough from smoke inhalation. The reality of it all had not sunk in yet.
Shock
Once we were taken to the emergency room I only suffered some frost bite and smoke inhalation. My mom was a bit worse but her injuries were still minor. By this time it was almost 5 a.m. and I realized I had to open the store I work at, at 11 a.m. I just kept telling my dad I had nothing to wear as the store only carries high end clothing. I phoned my boss telling her about the situation and I said I could still work which now sounds absolutely ridiculous. There was obviously no way I could go to work that day.
The next day, my dad, a couple of police officers and I had to go into the house for the first time. Everywhere I looked I just saw what was once my lovely, welcoming home, now turned into a black horrible mess. Our laptop was destroyed and melted, our treadmill looked like a giant melted candle stick and I found my new Matt and Nat Collection hand bag on the floor looking like a scrap piece of burnt wood.
I stood there in the middle of the ruins thinking about all of the wonderful and not so wonderful times I had in that house. It was like watching a movie in my mind of the numerous Christmas mornings spent in the sunlit living room and the family gatherings that were always over the top. I even pictured myself vacuuming and watching television in the once clean living room. As I made my way up the ruined staircase my emotions started bubbling inside of me.
The upstairs was still so hot and with every step the floor oozed in a horrible yellow water. I was left alone for a moment and I stepped foot into my bedroom. After looking around the blackened room I just fell to my knees in a sobbing break down. I saw my hard earned dancing trophies melted and shattered, pictures that were burnt and turned black from smoke and my bed full of pillows, a watery smokey
disaster. I had never felt emotions such as I felt in that moment and I hope to never feel them again.
New Beginning
We are now living in brand new condos up by our local Sobey's. I am so grateful to have such wonderful family and support that has helped and is still helping us get to where we are today. A Roast Beef Night was held at the Heritage Inn to help raise money for our family to buy such things as a new couch. Since we lived in a condo, insurance never really crossed the minds of our family. We had to start from scratch which has been tough and I can tell you we will never go a day without insurance again. Although we still do not have dressers or night tables and a few other things of the sort I am so thankful to have a roof over my head and a bed to sleep in.
One Step at a Time
I am not a very religious person, but I believe that God was there the night of the fire watching over my home and my family. I was almost sleeping with my iPod in, and my door shut and normally would never be able to hear the sounds of the smoke detector. Even though most of our belongings were destroyed, we were lucky to get out with minimal injuries.
There is still one particular thing that I think about everyday that really makes me believe God was there for us. On one bookcase we owned, everything was burnt and destroyed and the book case itself was ready to fall over. Standing in the middle was my moms Christmas gift from my brother and I that was totally black but was not ruined by the fire. That Christmas I made my mom a beautiful poem and gave her a Willow Tree statue of a mother with angel wings with her arms wrapped around her two children. One was a boy who was shorter then the girl on the other side. It looked so much like my brother, mom and I. I think that figurine represents us from that day forward, standing in the middle of a chaotic mess trying to stand even when everything else has fallen over. I thank God everyday for keeping us safe on that day and helping us get through everyday one step at a time.
Lessons Learned
I have always been a very thankful person and I try to enjoy every moment of life without any regrets. This fire has been very hard on my family and I and still everyday it seems to affect me in some way. I have learned to be a stronger person and get through the little things in life in a breeze. I have become even more thankful for my surroundings and for things such as a bed and blankets which some people may overlook. I try to never complain because I know that there are so many people in the world fighting through far worse things then not being able to for example, go out on a Friday night.
Going through what I did has made me a stronger person and has helped me become the person I am today. You must cherish and appreciate every moment of your life and never take anything for-granted because you never know when it could be gone in the blink of an eye.
The Red Cross helped us out with buying new toothbrushes, soap and things just to get through a regular day. I am now working to be a volunteer at the Red Cross which leads me to my platform for the Miss Teen Canada-World Pageant.
Disaster Relief
Disaster relief is my platform because with going through what I have gone through I want to make a difference on a national and international level dealing with disasters. I want to accomplish a change from things like house fires to hurricanes. I have already made two presentations on behalf of the Red Cross at different schools about Disaster Preparedness and why it is important. I want to work with people who have dealt with similar situations such as I have gone through and construct a positive outlook for them and let them know that they still have a bright future and anything is possible.
I believe becoming Miss Teen Canada-World would help me reach my goal and let me make an even bigger impact on people's lives all over the world. So far, becoming Miss Teen Saskatchewan-World has been one of the most positive things in my life and being crowned Miss Teen Canada-World would take my life and goals to the next level.
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