Dave Crete had just finished splitting wood, and Leann cleaning one of the cottages at The Pines on Boshkung Cottage Resort, when they headed across the yard for home last Thursday afternoon.

Leann said Dave was ahead of her and realized the smoke alarms were going off. She said the woodstove had been going so Dave ran to the back door, only to find their ceiling on fire.

“I heard him screaming,” Leann recalled during an interview Nov. 11. “I called 911.”

Their two children, Zayden, 16, and Violet, 12, were at school but the family dog, Lexie, was in the house.

“We tried to run up to see if we could get our dog but it was like a wall of smoke,” Leann says with emotion choking her voice. The pet was upstairs, where the flames didn’t reach, but the beloved family pet quietly slipped away from smoke inhalation.

From there, Leann said it “was a pretty horrible time” and it seemed “like a lifetime” for emergency responders to arrive, but she knows they were quick. She said the Algonquin Highlands fire department, with assistance from Minden, had the fire out in about 40 minutes from the time she dialed 911.

“Amazing. Luckily the fire didn’t roll over to the second floor,” Leann said.

Algonquin Highlands fire chief Mike Cavanagh said on Nov. 12 that the cause was accidental and due to improper disposal of ash. He put the structural damage at $180,000. He said they were called at 12.55 p.m. Nov. 7, responding with 18 firefighters and eight fire trucks from Algonquin Highlands and Minden Hills. The house is unlivable as many of the joists were burnt and because of the extensive smoke damage.

The Crete’s were able to go inside and retrieve some items, such as business papers, wedding rings and other jewellery, and the resort computer. The family has owned The Pines since May 2015. Leann said they were finally getting it “to a good spot, then this happens, but we just keep telling ourselves we’ll be stronger for it.” We’re trying to look at the positive things. The children were at school and not hurt. We weren’t inside. We still have each other. People have been so incredibly generous. We can’t thank them enough.”

Rhubarb and Boshkung Brewing Co. owner Terri Mathews-Carl started a GoFundMe campaign. Mathews-Carl said her family used to own The Pines. It had raised more than $5,000 of its $10,000 goal as of press time Wednesday.

“Thank goodness we have insurance,” Leann added, noting Glenn Hall of Floyd Hall Insurance arrived within about 15-20 minutes of being called. The family wanted to thank Hall, Mathews-Carl, the EMS personnel, including firefighters, paramedics, OPP, the fire marshal, complete strangers that stopped, family, friends and neighbours and the principal of J. Douglas Hodgson Elementary School, Andrea Borysiuk, who drove the kids home.

Leann said they are staying in a fully-furnished cottage for now. They have been given clothing and food. They don’t know exactly what they will need going forward. However, she said if people don’t want to use the GoFundMe, the family can always use grocery vouchers or gift cards, but mostly prayers, love and positive thoughts are needed.

Through it all, they are continuing to operate their business, since cottages are booked. “We don’t want to disappoint our guests that were booked or lose our clientele,” Leann said.

While most of their immediate physical needs are being taken care of, the family is coming to terms with their emotions. The Crete’s added they were able to recover “their beloved” Lexie and give her a proper burial on the property with all of her favourite toys.

“All four of us will be okay. We’re strong. It’s going to be a tough year, and there are going to be a lot of tears, but we are counting our blessings and we’re going to come out stronger at the end,” Leann said.

Cavanagh said ashes should always be placed in a metal bucket or can and removed from the building as soon as removed from the stove. He said ashes should be placed well away from any building or structure until they can be disposed of properly as they will hold heat and coals for many days. He also advised people to ensure that homes and cottages have working, up-to-date smoke and carbon monoxide alarms on all floors, and outside of all sleeping areas.

Go to gofundme. com/f/crete-family-home-fire.

Mabel Brannigan sits at her dining room table in Minden, hunched over a writing project she has embarked upon. It will honour local veterans during the 75^th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 2020.

The 96-year-old war veteran, for whom the Minden Legion is named, is a little over half way through the stories she is penning about Haliburton County veterans. She hopes to be done by the end of the year.

She is calling it the ‘Left to Tell’ series since there aren’t many of her vintage remaining.

“I have to do this to pay tribute to these boys, and a few girls, from Haliburton County,” she tells The Highlander – which will be publishing her series in the lead-up to Remembrance Day 2020.

“I am in my 96^th year,” she continues, “and I remember most of the boys. All or nearly all have died.” She emphasized it’s important to her to write about these “courageous” people. “They gave their today for your tomorrow.” She said we all owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude.

She said writing the articles also saddens her since all of them are gone. In a 2016 video, as part of The Highlanders’ Veterans of Haliburton County series, Brannigan said, “They’re all gone. I’ve got no friends here of my age.”

The writer hands over a sheet of paper, in black ink, the lines running slightly up and to the right but exceedingly legible for a woman on the cusp of 97 years.

“No matter what their motivation, the men and women in our armed forces were willing to put their own lives at risk for an ideal,” the paper reads. “They believed in the value of what they were doing. They faced incredible hardships, witnessed events that no one should have to witness and pushed themselves to the limit of their endurance.”

2020 also marks the 75^th anniversary of D-Day, when thousands of allied troops mobilized on the beaches of France. Canada’s part was mainly on Juno Beach, suffering heavy casualties.

“But they knew it must succeed,” said Brannigan. “If it didn’t, what would?”

She noted how Canadians today are welcome with open arms in Normandy and in countries such as The Netherlands where Canadians played a vital role in freeing them from Nazi occupation.

“Many from Haliburton served and died in Italy, too,” Brannigan noted.

“We honour the courage and sacrifice for those who secured freedom for all of us. Lest us forget.”

While she doesn’t want to talk about her own service, insisting on paying tribute to those she is writing about, Brannigan went to Yorkton, Saskatchewan as a teenager and was then stationed in Ottawa.

Black Lake cottager Peter Fry would love nothing more than to take his seven-year-old granddaughter to Minden by boat.

But with Parks Canada taking out the boat rollers and putting in booms for safety reasons about four years ago, Fry, other Black, Gull and Moore lakes cottagers, plus Kilco Camp kids haven’t been able to make the trip.

However, Minden by boat may soon be possible again as proponents, including Minden Hills councillor Pam Sayne, continue to talk with Parks Canada and the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) about the return of a safe portage.

“Please bring them [the boat rollers] back so that current and future generations can once again go to Minden by boat,” Fry said in a written presentation Sayne made to Minden Hills council last month.

Sayne said that after a series of meetings with Parks Canada and the MTO, proponents are getting closer to again having a portage at Moore Falls.

Sayne said the most recent meeting was on Oct. 16.

“It’s not going to be as difficult as we intended because of the co-operation from the MTO and Parks Canada,” she told The Highlander.

Following an online petition and protest that saw Highway 35 at the dam blocked in 2017 so canoeists could portage across the road, Sayne said “people recognize there was a better way to work on this together. We’re doing it and we’re making progress and there will be a portage there.”

While it’s still early days and no agreements are yet in place, Sayne said Parks Canada and the MTO hired a consultant to come up with portage options and they now have a preferred option. She noted a portage would be adjacent to Lutterworth Park.

She said they would be putting a call out for someone to volunteer to design and build infrastructure to make the proposed portage more user-friendly.

She noted Parks Canada is maintaining the booms, just aligning them in a way to make it easier to portage.

A spokeswoman for Parks Canada, Valerie de Winter, said a site visit was conducted Oct. 16 by representatives from Minden Hills, the MTO and Parks Canada.

“Parks Canada continues to work with the Township of Minden Hills and the Ministry of Transportation to review and to develop a solution for the portage route,” she said.

“Given the complexities of the site, a safe portage route has to be carefully and fully analyzed prior to implementation.”

She said visitor safety was of the “utmost importance” to Parks Canada, as dams present “a real risk to visitor safety, particularly when water levels and flows are higher than normal. Safety is a shared responsibility, and all visitors (boaters and land-based) should exercise caution around and on the water and stay well clear of dams,” de Winter said.