Orillia family grateful for support after fire claims home, pets

An Orillia family is beginning the long road to recovery after a devastating fire tore through their mobile home in Parkside Estates last week, claiming the lives of two beloved family pets and destroying nearly all of their belongings.

Crystal Crooks says the fire began with a barbecue accident while she was at work, just a kilometre from home. She got the call around 6 p.m., just as her shift ended.

“I could see the smoke on my way home,” Crooks recalled. “When I got there, fire trucks were just arriving.”

According to Crooks, her husband had started the barbecue to cook dinner and stepped inside briefly to grab tongs. When he returned, smoke alarms were sounding and flames had already erupted.

Though her husband and the rest of the family made it out safely, their two pets — Simba, a two-year-old orange tabby cat, and Axel, a one-year-old puppy — were not so lucky. Their bodies were later found inside the charred remains of the home.

“I actually drove around the block at first, thinking they’d run away in fear,” Crooks said. “But they were inside. They were emotional support for all of us. It’s been especially hard for the kids.”

Crooks, 39, and her three children — aged nine, 15, and 18 — have been staying with extended family since the fire. While grappling with the emotional toll, she says the outpouring of community support has been “truly overwhelming.”

“We’ve had so many people reach out — friends, family, staff from Regent Park Public School where I work, and Twin Lakes Secondary School where my older kids went,” she said.

Even former coworkers at Maurices, a local clothing store, helped out.

“They knew my size and put together a big bag of brand-new clothes,” she said, adding that Conexus Church also stepped up, providing gift cards and prayer support. “It’s overwhelming, and we are grateful.” 

The family is insured, and the home will require a full rebuild — a process expected to take at least eight or nine months. On Tuesday, they began sifting through the remains to catalogue items for insurance purposes.

“None of it is recoverable, but it’s part of the process,” Crooks said.

For her children, the hardest part has been losing Simba and Axel. Crooks said her youngest child missed several days of school and is struggling with the public attention.

“I think they’re overwhelmed by all the support,” she said. “They’ve said, ‘I wish people didn’t know.’ But there are a lot of lessons we’re learning right now.”

When asked what message she would want to share with others, Crooks pointed to fire safety.

“There’s a lot we didn’t know about barbecues,” she said. “It had been in that same spot for 10 years, but it turns out it was too close to the home. Just be cautious.”

Despite everything, Crooks says she is staying strong for her family. 

“It’s all about staying positive for the kids,” Crooks said. “That’s what keeps me going.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to assist the family as they begin to rebuild. It has raised $3,937 of the $10,000 goal so far.