"We managed to leave with just the clothes on our backs and our two parakeets."
On Jan. 2, Richmond residents Megan Dominic, her husband Raymond Squires and their two sons watched from across the street as the home they had been renting for the past two years went up in flames.
Now, almost two weeks later, the family is still living with relatives and trying to figure out what to do next - and regretting not having tenant insurance.
The morning of the fire, Dominic woke up to the smell of burning plastic. She quickly checked to make sure nothing inside their home was on fire.
However, stepping outside, she saw smoke pouring out of the entrance to their downstairs neighbour's unit.
Dominic told the Richmond News she saw one of the tenants come out of the unit saying they'd already called the fire department.
"I then rushed back in to get my family out. There was a lot of adrenaline and it was really scary," she said.
"My boys were crying because they were woken up abruptly and had no idea what was happening."
The family managed to grab the parakeets in their cages, car keys and phones and they left the house to wait for Richmond Fire-Rescue.
By the time the family got out, thick black smoke had begun to penetrate their upstairs unit.
"The whole time we were trying to figure out what we were going to do. The kids were still looking at the house on fire in the back of the car and they were screaming," said Dominic.
The Indigenous family are now crammed into a small apartment with relatives in North Surrey figuring out resources and their next steps.
Squires, with a background in construction, is having a tough time finding stable work while Megan is a full-time university student working towards her teaching degree.
"Our son Damien, who is autistic, is having a particularly hard time adjusting to everything we've lost."
An estimated $15,000 to $20,000 worth of valuables including memorabilia and electronics were left behind in the fire.
And with no tenant insurance, they are left asking for help from the community with a GoFundMe page set up.
"It's been very hard to navigate what our next steps are going to be.
"Essentially, we're homeless. We don't know when and if we can retrieve any of our belongings in the home and we don't know where we're going to be next."
The house fire at the corner of Craig Court and No. 4 Road on Jan. 2 displaced the family and two other tenants.
Squires and Dominic were told by Richmond Fire-Rescue that the house they were living in was built in the 1970s.
This means asbestos would be a big problem, and any smoke in the unit would render the space "contaminated," explained Dominic.
"We wish we knew about tenant insurance when we first moved in. Now we know and we advocate for all renters to get it because it would protect them."
The News has reached out to the homeowner but did not get a response prior to publication.
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