An Oliver family is trying to put the pieces of their life back together after a fire destroyed their home on Earle Crescent last weekend.

Francis (Frank) Lalonde lost everything but realizes how fortunate he is to still have his three children (Denise, Steven and Edna).

If it wasn’t for a smoke alarm, it may have been a different story.

Lalonde recalled leaving the rental house on Earle Crescent on the morning of June 21 to buy a laundry basket. When he came back, he saw the billowing smoke and members of the Oliver Fire Department extinguishing the flames.

His son, 16-year-old Steven Lalonde, was awakened by the smoke alarm at approximately 9 am. He left his room to see a “string of fire” in the kitchen area, and ran downstairs to find a fire extinguisher, but to no avail.

Twenty-year-old sister Edna Lalonde heard Steven yelling and opened her bedroom door, but couldn’t escape because of the flames. So she ran through her brother’s adjoining room and left the house through the back door.

Edna ran to the front door and screamed for her younger sister, Denise, who just celebrated her 18th birthday. But there was too much smoke to enter the house. She later learned that Denise was staying at a friend’s house.

Meanwhile, Steven went back into the house to retrieve a three-month-old kitten that he heard “meowing.” In doing so, his hair was singed and his lungs filled with smoke.

“By the time I got to my room, my eyes were watering,” the boy said, noting he literally ran through fire. Steven never found the kitten.

On scene, Oliver Fire Chief Dan Skaros stressed that nobody should re-enter a burning house for any reason. Once you are out, you stay out.

Skaros said it is believed the fire started in the kitchen area, but Frank said he cleaned the kitchen and made sure everything was turned off before he left. He suspects the fire started in the laundry room because the appliances were on.

Edna admitted the ordeal was scary.

“I wasn’t sure who was in the house . . . it was our home . . . we lost everything we worked for.”

But she acknowledged it was better than planning a family member’s funeral.

Steven said if the smoke detector had not activated, he likely would have slept through the fire.

The family is now reaching out for help in finding accommodation, furnishings and appliances.