Hailey Hamilton and her 8-year-old son lost their home in a house fire on Nov. 28, 2023.

Image Credit: Hailey Hamilton GoFundMe Page

Last week, on Nov. 28, Hailey Hamilton lost her home in Peachland to a devastating house fire. Although she was able to get her son out in time, she lost almost everything she owned in the blaze.

Hamilton was asleep with her eight-year-old son beside her when the fire broke out in the early hours of the morning.

She was woken up by the sound of her fire alarm and her neighbour who had been notified by a Google Nest security system that there was fire in the vicinity.

“My son was sleeping next to me, and I got up, opened the door, and looked through the living room window,” Hamilton told iNFOnews.ca. “I could see the flicker of flame, and sparks flying, and embers.”

“I woke up to the smoke alarm, so if this even spreads the word to make sure people's batteries are up to date, smoke alarms do save lives.”

When she saw the size of the fire and felt the heat in the walls she knew she didn’t have long to get her son and herself to safety.

“By the time I had seen the established fire I thought, you need to get the hell out of here,” she said. “I went back to the bedroom, got my son up, got some clothes on as soon as I could for him and carried him out. I physically carried him out.”

Hamilton rented the space from landlords who have become an extended family, she said. The owner’s daughter was also living with her at the time.

On the way out of the fire, Hamilton wasn’t able to collect any belongings, even her phone fell from her pocket in the hurry to escape.

“My laptop was super handy, I grabbed it just so I could email my mother,” she said. “To all of those that are still blessed to have a mother, that's pretty much the first person you think to call.”

Despite all her belongings still being inside the home, Hailey ran back into the fire to save one thing.

“I was fostering my brother's cat at the time and he was in the building as well,” she said. “Thank God we got the cat out, even though I inhaled a bunch of smoke getting him out.  But anyone with a beating heart is going to go back for the animal.”

“It was super scary. But you're just in survival.”

Thankfully for Hamilton, when firefighters arrived, she and her son were sent to the hospital as a precaution. When she went back into the fire to save her brother’s cat, she inhaled highly carcinogenic smoke.

“I was feeling quite nauseated, and my chest was really hurting,” she said. “I got kind of stuffed up and I went to blow my nose and there was soot.”

“I was informed that (it was a) good thing I did get checked out because that can indicate that there's highly carcinogenic smoke in the lungs, which I knew already because I was in the fire, in the smoke, and I was inhaling it, trying to get my son out and get the cat out.”

Her son made it out without any injuries, but the emotional distress has taken a suspected toll.

“The emotions, they start to unravel days, weeks later,” Hamilton said. “So, I have gotten him in some counselling. Thankfully for the kids, it's a little bit more immediate. I'm still waiting. But that's okay.”

Hamilton has lived at the Peachland residence since she moved to the area from Saskatchewan five years ago. She shared the home with her former partner as well as her son.

“We created a lot of memories in that home. We just recently separated in the last few months,” she said. “There was a lot of memories created there and the owners had become like family to us. So, it was a huge loss for everyone involved.”

During an emotional and stressful separation from her partner, Hamilton said she missed renewing her home insurance.

“You just think these things only happen in movies. No, it's real,” she said. “Through the mess that separation can be sometimes, it just wasn't renewed.”

Because of this, Vanessa Reid, a close friend of Hamilton, created a GoFundMe page to help the single mother through the difficult days ahead.

“Thank God for her,” Hamilton said. “I'm extremely grateful and overwhelmed with the generosity of the community. People I don't even know are donating. It's incredible.”

For now, Hamilton and her son are living in temporary rental accommodation. She doesn’t know how the fire started and an open investigation is still underway.

In the meantime, Hamilton said she has been moved by the generosity of family, friends and strangers alike.

“It's incredible, the power of community. Like, it just makes me want to cry,” she said, breaking down. “How much love and support we have received from all of this. It's like a practice of learning how to ask for help. And that it's okay to not be okay.”

“I don't ever want to be playing victim through all of this. Through talking to (iNFOnews.ca), my purest intention was to spread the word of the power of community,” she said. “I'm extremely inspired and touched by all of this. It's really overwhelming, and the shock has worn off, it's more an exhaustion now…But in my good moments, it's like I remember all the people that are supporting me here. That's what keeps you going.”

To visit the GoFundMe follow the link here.

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