A Norfolk County family is grateful for an outpouring of support the community has shown following a devastating fire.
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Norfolk County Fire, paramedics, and OPP responded to East Quarter Line at about 3:30 pm on Wednesday, April 10 to find a grass fire had spread to a nearby house and vehicle.
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The home, built in the late 1840s and owned by Lloyd Ryerse and his wife Melba Saarivirta-Ryerse, was destroyed. Norfolk County Fire estimated the property damage at $500,000 and noted there was no insurance.
Julie MacDonald, a life-long friend of the Ryerse’s daughter Laura, launched a Go Fund Me campaign to help the Ryerses get back on their feet.
“We’ve known each other since kindergarten,” MacDonald shared. “I spent I don’t know how many weekends at that house hanging out with the entire family when we were growing up. Laura and I are like sisters practically, and we live together now (in Toronto).”
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Laura Ryerse said she wasn’t aware her parents didn’t have insurance until after the tragic fire.
“You don’t anticipate anything like this happening but we’re doing what we can to raise some money to help Mom and Dad get set back up,” she said. “The support from the community has been amazing.”
Ryerse said her 74-year-old father was in the house when the fire started.
“A neighbor spotted the fire and got to the house in time and was able to pull him out,” she explained. “My dad had a couple of burns on his ankles and a bruise on his ribs.”
He was taken to hospital where he remains under observation but is doing much better now, his daughter said.
Ryerse said her mother is staying with a friend for now, and once her father is released from hospital, there’s a possibility a neighbor has offered her folks a place to stay.
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Laura and her siblings, Ariel and Eli, all live in Toronto but have been going to the family home on weekends to clean up and try to salvage belongings.
Meantime, Norfolk County Fire reminds residents that burning in ditches – part of the municipal road allowance and not the property of individual landowners — is not permitted under any circumstances.
“Burning large areas of dry grass without adequate means of containment or extinguishment can have devastating consequences,” said Cory Armstrong-Smith, fire prevention officer.
Laura Ryerse said her father would sometimes start a controlled fire to burn debris on the rural property near Port Dover.
“He thought he had put it out and I guessed that the grass was dry enough that, when he went back inside it picked up again,” she said. “He didn’t realize until it was too late unfortunately.”
The Go Fund Me campaign stood at $4,866 as of Friday afternoon..
“We want to extend our thanks to everyone who has donated or shared the link,” said MacDonald. “And we want to thank the community. It’s been heartwarming.”
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