Boy, 14, wakes parents in time to escape Britannia house fire

A 14-year-old boy “crawled on the floor” to reach his family and wake them in time to escape a Britannia house fire that killed three dogs and a cat early Tuesday.

Bruce Murangira said Tuesday that he and his fiancée, Mandy Haaima, were asleep when their 14-year-old son heard “the sound of smashing glass and then the fire alarm.”

He said the boy opened his bedroom door to reveal a “puff of smoke,” then crawled down the hall to Murangira’s bedroom to wake him and his fiancée.

The three escaped, but Murangira said their three dogs and one cat were killed in the fire.

Ottawa Fire Services said a resident reported smoke visible on one side of 2700 Howe St. at 1:07 a.m.

When firefighters arrived, they found heavy smoke in the ground floor kitchen and attacked flames that had extended to the secondfloor exterior and attic. The fire was under control at 1:52 a.m.

Paramedics took the three to the hospital but their injuries were not believed to be serious.

Fire services spokesperson Danielle Cardinal confirmed that two other dogs survived what an investigator called an “accidental kitchen fire.” A fourth member of the family had spent the night at a friend’s house.

Damage was estimated at $350,000.

Dave Stibbe, a 52-year-old teacher at Kanata Montessori School

and Cedar Ridge High School who has lived two doors down for 12 years, was returning home from a mountain biking trip when his wife texted him, saying the neighbours’ house was on fire and that “flames lit the whole backyard up.”

He pulled onto Howe Street around 1:30 a.m. to find firefighters, police and paramedics on the scene.

“It was a pretty crazy evening,” he said.

His two daughters, Jordyn, 9, and Jesse, 12, who were kept home from school Tuesday, said they watched as firefighters performed CPR on the dogs to try to resuscitate them.

Janet Brown, a Britannia Village resident, started a gofundme page to raise money for the victims. She has two dogs, herself, and said her “heart just broke a little” when she heard what happened.

Neighbours belonging to the Facebook group, Friends of Britannia Village, also offered assistance.