Newlyweds Lose Everything In West End Blaze
Posted May 27, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Imagine moving into your first home one night, only to return the next day to find all of your possessions water-logged and reeking of smoke.
That’s what happened to newlyweds Mark and Gail Haupert when a stubborn four-alarm fire ravaged their townhouse complex near Jane and Weston Road Monday night.
The couple, who’d just finished painting and unpacking their new pad, lost pretty much everything, including wedding photos.
And to top it all off, the pair’s pet went missing.
“We moved in on Sunday and then we came back on Monday and all this happened, and our cat went missing, too, so we’re not sure where he is or how he’s doing,” Gail said.
“He’s a brown and black tabby, really big yellow eyes and he just had surgery a little while ago…so he’s got a shaved stomach and a scar, so he shouldn’t be too hard to spot if anyone sees him walking around.”
And while the fate of their pet is foremost on their minds, they can’t help but feel the sting of losing so many precious m ementos.
“All our wedding photos and everything from the fire, the wedding dresses, the suit, all that, all gone,” her husband, Mark, adds. Most of their furniture was also water-logged.
About 50 other people were also forced from their homes.
The massive blaze broke out around 8pm Monday on Sidney Belsey Crescent. It took about 80 firefighters to extinguish the flames. A 46-year-old woman was taken to hospital for smoke inhalation and luckily, no other injuries were reported.
It’s believed the flames started in a roof and spread through a common attic to neighbouring units.
Toronto Fire Services has pegged the damage estimate at about $2 million.
