Adjusting to life after the fire
Welland brothers Rob and Cesar Cosentino were badly burned in a garage blaze in January 2016; Rob speaks about it for the first time
Rob Cosentino is living with the emotional and physical scars left behind after a Welland garage fire changed his life forever.
Rob, 50, and his older brother Cesar Cosentino, 52, had been working on a Chevrolet Monte Carlo at 76 Hunter Dr. on Jan. 30, 2016, when a work light caused a spark igniting gasoline.
Welland Fire and Emergency Services were called to the house at about 6 p.m. that day. During an interview last January, fire Chief Brian Kennedy said the fire was under control by about 7:30 p.m.
The brothers were badly burned during the fire. Rob sustained burns to about 60 per cent of his body. Cesar sustained more severe injuries than Rob, and which have left him with impaired vision.
It wasn’t unusual for the two brothers to be working on their cars together. Rob said he started learning how to fix cars at age 16.
Although Rob has plenty of good memories of working on cars with his brother, he said the last memory has left him feeling remorseful.
“The good memories are there, but the last memory is embedded in my mind and hard to shake,” he said looking down, a baseball cap covering his face.
Rob said he wishes every day he could go back to that night and change what happened.
“It’s just stuck in the back of my head, unfortunately you can’t go back and change the past,” he said.
It’s still difficult for Rob to remember the night of the fire, but he recalls parts of it. He said it was cold that night, so the garage door was closed. Rob said if only the door had been open they could have escaped the fire quicker.
Rob remembers the light sparking and igniting a small spill of gasoline which triggered a chain reaction. He said it happened very fast. As the fire spread, Rob thought Cesar was under the car, so he stayed as long as he could to help him.
“The smoke and the heat, I couldn’t see anything and the heat prevented me from getting back under the car,” Rob said.
In the thick smoke Cesar had moved past Rob and exited the garage through a side door.
When Cesar was outside he couldn’t find Rob and went back into the garage to find his younger brother. Rob said he had eventually exited the garage through another door.
The last thing Rob remembers were the lights passing by as he was driven away in an ambulance. “It gets all blurry after that.” The brothers were transferred to out-of-area hospitals. Rob was taken to Hamilton General Hospital and Cesar was transferred to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.
For the next few months they were placed in medically induced comas.
Rob remained in hospital until November.
Cesar has been transferred to Welland hospital’s long-term care facility. Rob’s wife Rosa said Cesar will likely remain there indefinitely.
The fire caused about $500,000 in damage, including to the house and two vehicles inside the garage that were destroyed. The family is currently living in a rental home in Welland while repairs are done to their home.
Due to the unexpected expenses caused by the fire and hospital visits, the family started a GoFundMe fundraiser page days after the fire. The community rallied together to help the Cosentinos during the trying time.
In February, just a few days after the fire, almost $24,000 was raised through the online fundraiser.
Rob feels a great deal of regret for what happened that night, although he said he knows it was an accident. He said Cesar sustained worse injuries than he did, and that has left him with a great deal of emotional pain.
Rosa said Rob is trying to deal with his feelings and memories from the accident, but it will take a long time to heal.
“I think physically, he’s getting there, but it’s emotionally (difficult),” Rosa said.
Since the accident, Rob said he hasn’t had any interest in working on cars — even the thought of it is just a bad reminder of the fire and what can go wrong.
Rob now has trouble with dexterity in his hands and arms, so being physical is difficult and painful.
The brothers would work on each other’s cars to save money on repairs but Rob said it was also the joy and challenge of fixing a vehicle that got him interested in mechanics.
“I enjoyed working with my brother … we would do engine swaps in my garage, we did just about anything,” Rob said.
After walking up from a coma, Rob learned the house was completely destroyed and his family had been left with nothing.
He said it was difficult to learn he had caused so much pain and hardship for his family.
He is grateful to the community and his extended family for helping since the fire.
“I was pleasantly surprised at the well-wishers and supporters … the GoFundMe, it was amazing … there are a lot of kind hearts out there,” Rob said.
Rob wanted to thank everyone who had helped him and his brother, from the first responders to the medical staff at the hospitals. He said the support they received from everyone has been overwhelming.
When Rob came home to a new house he found it difficult to adjust. Rosa said it has been hard getting back into a routine, but they are managing and their two children have been handling things well.
Rob was welcomed home by two new additions to the family — two cats.
“I thought it was good I was discharged when I did or there’d be more cats … they were replacing me with cats,” Rob said with a laugh.