Community members here are rallying to help a local family in its time of need.
Less than a week after the Prescott-Powers family lost its home to a fire, efforts were already well underway to give the family a hand up.
“The family has reportedly received lots of clothing and furniture,” Guelph-Eramosa deputy fire chief Richard Renaud told the Advertiser on Tuesday, one week following the Nov. 12 fire that destroyed the Prescott-Powers’ home southwest of Rockwood.
“They are now requesting financial donations to assist with food and lodging issues.”
All five family members – including two young girls, aged three and seven, and a one-year-old boy – and their pets escaped safely, but the old brick home was reduced to a shell.
Renaud said officials at Rockwood Centennial Public School, where one of the children is a student, have opened a trust account for the family at the RBC bank in Rockwood. Anyone can donate at any RBC Bank using the name “Prescott-Powers community account” and account number C/A/REG – 04142 1006634.
A letter sent home with students notes the school and the local RBC “are drop-off points for financial donations, gift cards (Target, Walmart, grocery stores, gas, mail), toys, toiletries and other items.”
The letter, which thanks parents and guardians “for thinking about this family in their time of need,” also states Rockwood Centennial Public School is hosting a community bake sale on Nov. 21 from 9am to 7:30pm and on Nov. 22 from 8:30am to 2:30pm.
All proceeds from the sale, which is open to the public, will go to the Prescott-Powers family.
On Nov. 12 at about 4:30pm police and Guelph-Eramosa firefighters responded to the blaze at the family’s home on Wellington Road 44, just south of Highway 7.
“The family members were at home and detected smoke in and outside of the house prior to it becoming fully engulfed in flames,” OPP Constable Cheri Rockefeller said in a press release.
“The parents, along with three children and pets managed to make it out safely.”
The house was heated by a wood stove, but fire department officials said on Nov. 19 the cause of the blaze has not yet been released.
Fire Chief John Osborne said about 45 firefighters battled the fire all night and the Guelph-Eramosa department returned the next day to “put out some hot spots.”
Because there are no hydrants in the area, firefighters had to use a water shuttle process, calling on tankers from the Erin, Centre Wellington, Puslinch and Guelph fire departments for assistance.
The original press release from the OPP indicated the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office “was notified and will be attending,” but Osborne said on Nov. 18 that the fire did not meet the Fire Marshal’s criterion for investigation – notably damages of at least $500,000.
Osborne said the house was “turned over” to its owners, who have been receiving help from Victim Services Wellington and the Red Cross.
