Fire destroys home for second time
Hamilton house had been rebuilt, reoccupied only months ago
HAMILTON— Joseph Mazuera and his young family have lost pretty much everything after their home went up in flames.
For a second time, Mazuera says, sitting on the front steps of his neighbour’s place and gazing at the charred hulk of his roofless home on Blackburn Lane.
“I lost all of my clothes. These are clothes that people donated to me,” the 30-year-old Mississauga transplant says, referring to a T-shirt and shorts he’s wearing.
He was in a slumber when his wife saw a bright orange glow outside their newly rebuilt twostorey home just after 11 p.m. Saturday night.
She screamed and grabbed their 15-month-old son and headed outside.
Mazuera said he went back in two or three times to grab what he could — photographs, his son’s toys.
“Everything’s gone. You can’t salvage anything in there.”
The three of them escaped injury and so did his mother-inlaw, who was visiting for the weekend.
One cat, Pumpkin, was found in the basement dead.
But another cat, Lily, was found alive.
When firefighters arrived at the Glanbrook subdivision off Rymal Road West around 11:20 p.m., they found heavy flames in the upper floors. Department spokesperson Claudio Mostacci said fire crews entered the home to fight the blaze but found the roof was unstable and had to exit.
Two aerial trucks were used to put out the fire, which was knocked down quickly, and to prevent flames from spreading to neighbouring homes, Mostacci said.
He said the blaze caused about $800,000 damage to 27 Blackburn Ln.
On Monday evening, an exhausted Mazuera said he and his wife bought the three-bedroom home for $460,000 about four years ago.
“I couldn’t believe the price,” he said, comparing Hamilton’s relatively low real estate values to those of the GTA. The first time the home burned down was sometime in 2014 or 2015, a blaze caused by embers from a neighbour’s outdoor chiminea, he said.
It took a long time, but insurance rebuilt the home and they moved back in a few months ago.
Mazuera wonders if a stray firework might have landed on his balcony and started the blaze. People were setting them off, he said.
Mostacci said there were reports of fireworks there Saturday, but cautioned against assuming that to be the cause.
The Ontario Fire Marshal’s office is investigating what caused the blaze.
The fire also caused some damage to neighbouring homes.
Mazuera and his family have been staying with his neighbour, Anthony Munro, but he plans to look for a place to rent while his house gets rebuilt again.
“They have to rebuild their whole lives,” Munro says, a pained look on his face.
But, Mazuera says, people have been generous, dropping off donations, including children leaving toys for his son.
“Hamiltonians are great people,” he says with a weary smile.