A Port Hope family credits a neighbours dog for alerting them their house was on fire early Sunday morning on November 1, 2020.
The Boon family including Geoff, his wife Kathy and their two sons, Kees (age 13) and Henk (age 7) were fast asleep when their garage caught fire at their address at 20 Highland Drive.
Although their garage wasn’t attached to the home, it was only approximately one metre from the residence which was built in 1880.
Neighbour, Michael Lefebvre and his wife were sleeping when their dog named Zoe apparently wanted to go out – for what they thought was to use the bathroom at approximately 3:30 a.m.
Zoe went outside, but never went to the bathroom and that’s when Lefebvre’s wife noticed smoke was pouring out of the Boon’s garage next door.
While his wife called 9-1-1 Lefebvre ran next door to see if the family had exited the house.
Lefebvre banged on the front door and awoke the family who quickly made it safely outside.
Moments after that the garage erupted into flames and quickly spread to the house.
“I think our dog either smelled something from the house or the smoke coming out of it and she obviously was agitated for whatever reason,” said Lefebvre.
Geoff Boon arrived at the family home on Sunday afternoon to assess the damage in the daylight.
The garage was completely destroyed in the fire along with two snowmobiles, snowblower and a number of tools from his workshop. Boon was in the process of siding the home, but all the siding he had beside the garage was also destroyed.
The intensity of the blaze caught the house on fire and spread into the home. Thankfully the neighbours alerted the Boon because the smoke detectors hadn’t activated likely because the fire/smoke hadn’t entered the family home.
“There wasn’t time to get anything,” said Boon speaking to Today’s Northumberland.
The inside of the home appears to be a total loss with heavy smoke, heat and water damage from the fire.
Boon said his two sons were sleeping right by a window which was closest to the garage and without the smoke alarms going off, the intensity of the flames could have broke through the bedroom window while they were sleeping if the neighbours hadn’t alerted them.
Almost everything the family owned was destroyed in the fire, but they are grateful to be alive.
“We’ve very grateful to the neighbours. We consider the dog saving our lives.”
Boon said just hours after losing the home of 15-years to fire they are numb right now and it may not have sunk in yet.
“But we’ll get over it and we’ll move ahead. You can only look ahead, no sense in looking back now.”
The fire started in the garage and may have been burning for sometime before it was noticed by the neighbours.
Boon said they are amazed and truly grateful for the support they’ve received from the community.
“Bags of clothes and food coming in already. It’s amazing how people are stepping up. We both grew up here. That’s the nice thing about a small town.”
“We’re so grateful for the neighbours who came down to get the boys and us out – because it could have been a big-time different story here.”
For clothing donations/sizes contact Kathy Dawson 905-243-5384.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
