Trevor and Danielle Johnston of Griffin, along with their children, were left homeless over the weekend as their home was destroyed by fire, sparking an outpouring of help from the community and from across the country.
The family was in Regina as their newborn triplets were just released from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Regina General Hospital, when news came midafternoon on Saturday that their Griffin-area farm home was on fire.
The call came in to the Weyburn Fire Department around 3:45 p.m., and three fire trucks responded to the scene, with a total of 24 fire fighters taking part, said Fire Chief Simon Almond.
The house was fully involved when the fire crews arrived, and they found out soon after that no one was at home, which enabled the fire fighters to attack the fire more aggressively, said the chief, who noted that some neighbours were helping, including one who had his discer out making sure the fire didn’t spread to become a prairie fire.
The Weyburn fire crews were on the scene until about 9 p.m. that evening, making sure all the hotspots were put out. The home was completely destroyed, and some grass burned, but no nearby buildings were damaged.
A neighbour of the Johnston’s, Todd Sprecken, had been out swathing about four miles to the east of their farm, and got a call from another neighbour, Brad Barlow, asking if there was a fire in the area. Todd contacted his wife, Faith, to check, and found out that the Johnston home was on fire.
Todd put a discer on a four-wheel-drive tractor and took it over to help make a fireguard, but found that Barlow was already on the scene doing that. The home was fully involved by that point, and the fire department arrived a short time after.
The response of friends and neighbours to help the Johnston family was immediate, as Danielle’s friend Brianna Ereth started up a gofundme page, which by Monday afternoon had reached $35,000, with a goal of $100,000 towards helping the family out.
Ereth noted on the page that Danielle and Trevor had been preparing for the arrival of their triplets, buying specialty items like triple strollers, triple high chairs and three of everything for the little babies.
In addition, dropoff points were established at several locations around southern Saskatchewan, including Halbrite, Griffin, Estevan and Regina, in addition to Weyburn, as items are collected for the family.
Ereth said on Monday afternoon the organizers are wanting to coordinate their efforts as they look for a place for the family to live in until their house can be rebuilt. Until then, they won’t know if the family will need furniture or appliances, but in the meantime they are taking donations of items such as diapers and wipes, gift cards and cash, plus the monetary donations on the gofundme page, which Ereth noted can be used by the family later to buy whatever they will be needing.
