Six years ago Norma Peck and her son Eric lost some of their most valuable possessions in a house fire. On Wednesday afternoon it happened again.
The Pecks live in the adjoining apartment to the one that suffered the most damage in Wednesday's blaze on Central Street, near 10th Avenue.
When the fire broke out Norma was in a friend's suite on the ground floor when she asked Eric to grab some groceries out of the car.
"He came running around the corner and said that there was a fire going," Norma said. "I ran inside and grabbed one of the cats, the two dogs and the kennels upstairs and ran back outside."
One cat, named Blueberry, is still missing but the Peck's remain hopeful he'll return home or someone will find him and identify him with the tattoo in his ear.
"I'm hoping he just went in there and hid," Norma said.
In the Pecks unit it was Eric's room that was most heavily hit - Norma said the ceiling caved in - but there was extensive water damage throughout their apartment.
"His room is gone," Norma said. "There's no salvaging anything."
Eric said he's disappointed to lose some of his collectibles, his video game system as well as a B.C. Lions jersey that was important to him. He's holding out a glimmer of hope that some items may be saved.
"I just want to see my room," he said.
A family encyclopedia collection, started by Norma's father in the 1960s, was also ruined by the blaze.
The Pecks didn't have any insurance to cover their losses.
The neighbouring unit was completely destroyed by the fire and Norma believes some other units in the building also had smoke and water damage. All the building occupants escaped and no one was injured.
The ordeal is bringing back awful memories for the family, who had to deal with a house fire six years ago. That time Norma and Eric were at home when the fire started and had to escape through second-story windows to get away from the blaze.
"I had an anxiety panic attack," Norma said when she realized she was going through the same experience again. "It's too much for me to handle all over again."
Lana Tomlinson, a friend of the Peck family, saw the smoke billowing from the apartment building from her place of work on Wednesday. She called Norma to see if her friend was OK and helped support her that evening.
On Thursday Tomlinson and other concerned citizens started taking donations to help the Pecks and the other families who lost possessions in the fire. The response so far has been overwhelming.
"I know [Norma] was devastated and I wanted to help get clothing for and her boy," Tomlinson said. "To get so much response and to be able to help all of the families is even better."
People have offered things big and small - from entertainment systems, beds and dressers to clothes, toiletries and gift cards. Many of the donations have come from complete strangers.
"To see everything that's going on, how we have a storage unit, people that are willing to help move and pick up the donations and store stuff, it's warming my heart so much," Tomlinson said. "It makes we want to cry because I can't believe how a community can come together that quickly to help these families."
Ivy Kanis, who has been running the volunteer-run charitable Helping PG's Own group for two years, also stepped up to offer assistance. She helped secure commercial and private storage locker space for donations and is helping co-ordinate collections.
"We'll store [the donations] until the families get in touch with us and then we can let [the families] take what they need," she said. "We're just in the beginning process right now."
Tomlinson and Kanis are still trying to reach out to other families who live in the building to find out what they need and how they and others can help.
Anyone with donations can contact Kanis at 250-962-5390 or visit the Friends of Fire Folks on Facebook.
"Our city is a very giving community, they step up and they really help everybody," Kanis said. "Not many people are left out, we all do what we can to help."
Norma, wiping away tears, said she was touched by the community's desire to reach out and help her and the other fire victims. In addition to losing some of her possessions, the Pecks will need to find a place to stay after their hotel voucher runs out on Saturday.
"They have us in a hotel for three days, but as of Saturday morning we have no place to go," Norma said. "I tried to go to welfare, but they can't help me until Tuesday, so I don't know what's going to happen."
