Matt Hogg, his wife, Trish Sweeting-Hogg, and their 12-year-old son, Kolby, were awakened about 6:30 a.m. Sept. 13 by a loud bang outside of their Scotch Line Road home.
Matt said the noise “shook the whole house.”
A volunteer firefighter with the Minden Hills department, Matt did what he always does when there is a fire.
“I always keep a pair of jeans at the end of my bed, so if the pager goes off at night, I can literally just pull on the jeans and head out the door. So, I actually went to the end of the bed, pulled my jeans on, and stepped out of the room.”
By this time, Trish was half way down the stairs and shouted that the house was on fire. Matt opened Kolby’s door and the pre-teen quickly dressed. Meanwhile, Trish went to get her mother, who also lives with them.
The family had a fire plan. Depending on where the blaze was, it could involve getting out using the gable window, crawling onto the porch roof, and then dropping a short distance to the ground. The only problem was that’s where the flames were.
They headed for a door leading to the porch, but it, too, was ablaze. Matt said he could see into the living room where smoke and flames were beginning, and the smoke detectors were now going off. He managed to grab the keys to his truck and his wallet as he led Kolby out another door.
“They’re always sitting by the door in case I get a fire call,” he said.
Meanwhile, Trish, who is a paramedic, got her mom with her walker, out the door. She did not grab her purse, but did snatch up Kolby’s hockey equipment bag.
“It was quite eventful,” she said, describing how a neighbour, who had heard the bang and saw flames, came running up the driveway. Another came running up the road with a cellphone calling 911.
Trish, her mother, and Kolby got in Trish’s car and drove away from the fire, while Matt stayed on-scene. He called 911 as well as Minden Hills fire chief, Don Kruger.
Kruger said 13 firefighters from Minden Hills and six from Algonquin Highlands responded.
“There was a working fire upon arrival that had spread through most of the structure, I am estimating the fire had been burning for almost 30 minutes before the first 911 call,” Kruger said.
He added, “the structure was a total loss, due to the prolonged burn time before the 911 call, and the Century-old balloon frame construction. We never really had a chance to save it.”
The final report from the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office is not yet completed, but it is looking like accidental/undetermined, he said.
First responders
Trish said being impacted by an emergency personally, versus responding to one as part of her job, are completely different things.
“We’re always the ones saying, ‘the people got out, that’s what matters most, but then you think about all of the sentimental stuff, which is the hard part.”
For example, she feels for Kolby, who has lost a collection of Toronto Maples Leafs’ memorabilia, as well as Cody Hodgson and Haliburton County Huskies merch, in addition to hockey medals and pins.
Matt added, “I’ve been in many fires, but being in my own house while it was on fire was scary.” He wanted to help fight the fire but was told he could not. He said it was hard to just watch.
Trish added, “having my co-workers there as my house was burning down was a little weird. Nobody knows what to do, other than give you a hug and say, ‘oh, my God’, and that’s enough.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help, with $10,759 raised as of press time.
“Honestly, it’s amazing.” Trish said. “We’ve been on that end of helping different people with their floods and things like that. Being on the receiving end of it is so overwhelming.”
She added families they know are using this as an education piece; to form their own fire plans. In addition to that, she recommends a fire safe. All of their important documents, such as passports, survived the fire, even though the box was badly burned.
The family is talking about a new build one day on the same property. Matt said Kolby has chimed in that one thing he would like is a sprinkler system at the new place.
