Family of eight left homeless

By Dan Hilborn
Published Nov. 30, 2005


A single-parent family with seven boys is looking for a new place to live after fire destroyed their rental home and all of their possessions last week.

Stephen Belleau, 19, said he, his deaf mother and six brothers are lucky to be alive after a fire broke out in the basement of a house in the 7100 block of Stride Avenue at about 6:30 p.m. last Wednesday, Nov. 23.

"We were all upstairs and nobody is really 100 per cent sure how it started," Belleau told the Burnaby NOW. "My mother smelled smoke, and we thought it was in the fireplace.

"I ran down to check, and that's when we realized there was a fire," he said. "We called 911, and the firemen were there in five minutes but, by that time, the fire was spreading pretty quickly.

"There wasn't any immediate danger because we were all able to get out of the house quickly," Belleau said. "We're lucky it just didn't happen at three o'clock in the morning."

Burnaby fire inspector Fred Scarfe said the exact cause of the fire is still under investigation, but there was only about $45,000 worth of structural damage to the 45-year-old, two-storey home. The most devastating aspect of the fire was the smoke damage, which completely destroyed the family's possessions, including food, clothing and furniture.

Gillian Gallson, who lives in the Cedar Place complex operated by B.C. Housing on nearby 14th Avenue, has opened her own doors to the family in the hope of keeping them in the community where they've lived for the past six years.

"I've been in similar circumstances and I know how traumatic it can be," said Gallson, whose sons are good friends with the younger Belleau children. "I just felt it was much better if they could stay with their own friends."

With two adults and nine children in a three-bedroom home - the oldest Belleau son has moved in with another friend - the floor has been covered in sleeping bags and meals have to be served in two shifts.

Gallson said she is working with the family, Stride Avenue community school, city hall and others to help keep the Belleau family living in the southeast Burnaby community.

The family has turned down B.C. Housing's initial offer of moving to East Vancouver and is now hoping to move into a four-bedroom townhouse in the Cedar Place complex.

Stephen Belleau said his family is receiving "mixed messages" from different officials in B.C. Housing as to whether they can stay in the neighbourhood.

"They have placed us on higher priority, but what that means I don't know," he said.

However, he said the family is thankful for the support and assistance they have received from the emergency social services division of Burnaby city hall. Although they turned down an offer of three nights' free accommodation at a motel, they have accepted food and clothing vouchers to replace some of the items lost in the fire.

Belleau noted that his younger brothers are having a great time staying with friends but he is worried about the stress on his mother.

"It's been tough," he said. "Before this, I would have thought that something like this would have just been overwhelming. But it's fallen on my shoulders to just suck it up and do it."

When asked if he was doing OK, Belleau replied: "Yeah, I think so."