Family ‘overwhelmed’ by support after home fire

‘Our family and our neighbourhood are what got us through it,’ dad says

The Pilot family have been subject to a whirlwind of emotions over the past week.

Last Friday, their home on the Wainfleet-Port Colborne border was destroyed by an unintentional electrical fire, which caused about $500,000 in damage, said Wainfleet Fire Chief Morgan Alcock.

Two family cats perished in the fire and the family members’ lives have been uprooted for an unknown amount of time.

But there is plenty to look forward to and to be grateful for, said Kim Pilot, wife of Jim and mother of 11-year-old Ryan.

First, there were no injuries in the fire.

People who live nearby and played helpful roles in the early morning fire last Friday, support from the community, and nearly $10,000 raised in less than a week through a GoFundMe campaign are some of the things the family is “overwhelmed” and “humbled” by, she said.

“As much as this is a tragedy, our family and our neighbourhood are what got us through it,” she said.

There is a “cute little blue house” in front of their family home on Youngs Road south near Highway 3 that someone had purchased and was in the process of renovating and offered as a rental. Its owner is speeding up the project to make sure the Pilots can move in by Jan. 1. The family has to go through the insurance process and rebuild their home on the site of the old one.

In the meantime, the family is staying with Jim’s mother in Port Colborne.

Ryan, a Grade 6 student at William E. Brown Public School, will continue to see his classmates and won’t have his school life disrupted.

He even played hockey two days after the blaze, and was greeted with a kind gesture from his Wainfleet Wild family – the association replaced all the hockey equipment he lost in the fire.

Ryan is also a hero in the incident. When Kim discovered there was a large fire at the back of their house, Jim was already at work.

The young man was still asleep, and Kim frantically woke him and told him he had to run to the nextdoor neighbours’ house and bang on the door until they answered so they could call 911.

Kim said she was unable to do this herself because of how much she was panicking.

“I was shaking so much I couldn’t even unlock my phone,” she said.

Ryan, in the freezing cold, “ran his heart out” in his underclothes and rubber boots to notify the neighbours.

“He’s my brave little boy,” said Kim, adding that her son is distraught about the loss of their cats, Missy and Spazzy.

Missy was considered Ryan’s cat and he would sleep with her in his bed every night.

“Losing his cat was the most devastating thing,” said Kim, also added the beloved pets will be placed into special, personalized urns.

Kim, a mental health nurse with Niagara Region, is taking time off work. On Thursday, she said she’s barely slept in days.

“I’m still having flashbacks. Every time I close my eyes, I still see the glow,” she said, referring to the first moments of realizing her home was going up in flames.

Despite the ground floor of the home collapsing, firefighters were able to recover personal items such as her wedding ring and passports.

Firefighters also brought Ryan a brand-new snowsuit after hearing about him running next door in next to nothing to alert neighbours.

“They really need to be recognized for the work that they do, and the support they give,” said Kim.

Jim is employed with JTL Machine Ltd., and returned to work Wednesday, keeping his mind off things by being around his coworkers, said Kim.

The family will use funds raised through the GoFundMe for properly saying goodbye to their pets, as well as furnish the home they will begin renting in the new year, said Kim.

The Pilots want to send a “thank you from the bottom of our hearts” to everyone who has helped in some way.

About 30 firefighters responded to the scene last Friday.