A fire has uprooted the life of a Quesnel family, who narrowly avoided an even worse outcome.
Lisa Diplock said 2022 was looking up for her family. Having just moved to Quesnel in September of 2021, she was about to start working for the city, and her husband, Corte, was about to launch his own business.
On Tuesday, Jan. 4, the Diplock family was enjoying a quiet evening.
While she slept on the couch, her three children were watching a movie beside her.
That peaceful moment was shattered when Corte noticed a bright light outside their home just after midnight on Jan. 5. A shed containing, of all things, fire extinguishers had caught on fire.
“Luckily my son heard us, because he was in his room with headphones on,” Lisa said.
“I just got right out, we just ran.”
Temperatures were around -25 C when the family spilled out into the night and called the fire department. All five members were taken to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation.
Diplock said the fire had destroyed the roof in the bathroom and her bedroom of the mobile home, as well as smoke and water damage to much of the rest of the home.
“There was so much smoke, everything just smells, it’s all damaged,” Diplock said.
“I can only go in there for like a second.”
READ MORE: Crews work to extinguish early morning fire in Quesnel
With a shed of pressurized fire extinguishers on fire, it could have been much worse, and with a stock of fire extinguishers, Corte was able to keep the entire unit from going up in flames, much like another mobile home did on the same property in January of 2020.
“He kept running back and forth, spraying it and spraying it, trying to get it out,” Diplock said.
The Diplocks are currently staying in a hotel room in Quesnel, trying to find a way forward. Donations have come pouring in, including by the local senior hockey team Quesnel Kangaroos, who brought Lisa’s son, Landdyn Diplock out on the ice before their game against the Kitimat Ice Demons on Saturday, Jan. 8.
Landdyn is a U13 minor hockey player, and the Kangaroos donated a gift card to replace some of the hockey gear he lost in the fire.
A GoFundMe to support the Diplocks has raised over $11,000, and other members of the community have made donations of clothes, blankets and gift cards. Lisa took to Facebook to thank everyone who has donated gift cards, blankets or food.
”We are still in shock and heartbroken but we have come to realize we have this amazing community,” she wrote on the Quesnel Community News and Events Facebook page.
“There are no words to express how grateful we are. We don’t know exactly what is needed yet, but we are fed and warm. I also want to thank the first responders, fire for saving what was saved. The paramedics for keeping us warm and the RCMP for saving my animals and taking them to the SPCA where they are safe.”
The GoFundMe can be found at www.gofundme.com/f/help-lisa-corte-recover-after-house-fire.
“We’ve been through a lot, but nothing like this,” Diplock said.
READ MORE: Quesnel firefighters fight mobile home fire for four hours
Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com
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cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com
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