‘He’s dead, he’s dead:’ Family recounts horror of the night their home burned with their child trapped inside

It was a usual Friday evening at the Al Ibrahims. All the kids, except three, were in the living room surfing Netflix, deciding what to watch. Their father, Ibrahim Al Ibrahim, had woken up from his nap and joined them while his wife prepared the evening tea.

The perfect family picture - one that was quickly shattered in the moments to follow.

First, the smoke detectors in the house went off. Then, the family noticed thick smoke coming out of the basement. Ibrahim, followed by his kids and wife, ran to the basement and saw everything on fire."

Within seconds, the family rushed outside their central Mountain home barefoot, in T-shirts, watching their house burn down.

We don't know which ones got the kids ... we just grabbed our family," said Rahaf Al Ibrahim, 17, and third oldest among the 13 siblings. She was translating for her father, who speaks Arabic.

The mother was the last one to get out of the house.

Or so they thought.

We double-checked on our family and Fawaz wasn't there. He was still in the house," said Ibrahim. There were loud screams in that moment as they realized the four-year-old boy was still inside. They thought he was in the basement where the fire started.

He's dead. He's dead," Ibrahim recalled some of his desperate family screaming as they stood outside in the cold.

Feeling helpless while waiting for fire trucks to arrive, Ibrahim tried getting into the house, desperate to rescue his son. But the basement flames were now as high as two feet, making it impossible for them to get inside.

I had to pour water on (Ibrahim) to stop. I told him, We might have to deal with one (death), don't make that two,'" Rahaf said.

(Fawaz) was (trapped inside) for a whole hour. He got poisoned twice from the smoke. And we thought he died," said Rahaf. It turned out he was asleep in a room on the main floor of the home.

When fire crews arrived, they encountered so much thick smoke and extreme heat at the front of the house that they had to use a ladder to go in through the back of the home. They broke a window to get to Fawaz, handing him off to a firefighter waiting on the ladder.

Initially without vital signs, Hamilton firefighters and paramedics revived the young boy and rushed him to hospital.

Neighbours Janet and Peter Ilios ran to assist the family when they saw fire trucks outside the two-storey, split-level home at 46 Garden Cres.

Janet, who also speaks Arabic, often saw the kids play around the street but spoke to the parents for the first time that night as she helped the couple translate to speak with first responders.

My husband was running around and bringing blankets, jackets to give them to the kids who were outside barefoot," said Janet, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 42 years.

There are five daughters and eight sons in the family - with ages ranging between three and 20. On the night of fire, the 19-year-old and 14-year-old daughters weren't home.

That night, the kids and parents were taken to three different hospitals as a precaution for smoke inhalation.

Fawaz was taken to the London's Children's Hospital that same night, after being stabilized in a Hamilton hospital. He still remains in the London hospital.

Ibrahim, with tears in his eyes, said his son is still in a bad condition" and has to breathe through an oxygen mask.

Although Fawaz's lungs are partially damaged, Jamileh Al Ibrahim, 19, said she is hopeful that his heart keeps on beating," and that her brother survives.

But, she added, even when he returns home from the hospital, it will be a long road to recovery.

Fawaz can't open his eyes or mouth, Jamileh said, and has damage in his throat and lungs.

In addition to dealing with the despair over Fawaz's health, the family is also struggling to get back on its feet after losing everything in the fire.

The family of 15 is having a hard time finding accommodation. The situation has put more pressure on Ibrahim, who suffers from blood cancer. He has been making the 90-minute commute to London each day to be with Fawaz while looking after all of his other children.

Currently at a hotel, the family has been moved three times since the fire on Nov. 18.

The family was first sent to Ronald McDonald House, then the 72-hour emergency family lodging by Canadian Red Cross and finally relocated to their current location at a downtown hotel. Meanwhile, the mother and one of their teen daughters have been staying near the London hospital.

Kirsten Long, Canadian Red Cross communications adviser, said the family was provided prepaid cards so that they can purchase items such as clothing, food and personal products to ensure that their immediate needs are being met."

But after their third and final emergency lodging at the hotel ends on Saturday, the family will not have anywhere to go.

The city said they are working with Red Cross and Good Shepherd to explore alternative accommodations, as well as other supports that can be put in place to assist this family in a long run," said spokesperson Aisling Higgins.

The Mountain Mosque is also helping the family find a place.

All owners ask me, How many kids you have?' I say, Thirteen.' They say, No,'" Ibrahim said of the struggle to find a place to live.

Ibrahim said it reminds him of when his family first moved to Canada in 2016 after fleeing the Syrian war.

Back then, he said, he used to lie to landlords that he had six kids just to get a rental accommodation for his family. We were left with no choice," he said.

The older kids in the family eventually dropped out of school due to Ibrahim's worsening health. They saved enough to finally buy the Garden Crescent home in 2019, Jamileh said. The older daughters in the family were helping with family expenses.

After the fire, Jamileh said she and her sister were fired from a local restaurant for not being able to come to work and for leaving early on the night of the incident.

Hamilton Fire Department estimated damages between $450,000 and $500,000. The family doesn't know what started the fire. Jamileh said there wasn't anything flammable in the basement.

It will take about a year to restore the house, Ibrahim estimated. While they wait for the insurance money to come through, the family is in a desperate need of affordable housing.

Jamileh's former co-worker, Brie Van Zyl, started a GoFundMe on Nov. 23 to help the family.

It's trying to get access to necessities for the family ... and making them feel loved, which as a community, we should all be doing," Van Zyl said. She said she is willing to run donation pickups.

Jamileh says they feel like they are starting over from scratch.

Eight years, we tried our best. We worked hard. We reached there. And then, we fell back to zero," Jamileh said.

It feels like our fourth day in Canada, again."

GoFundMe link: https://gofund.me/d8501b76

For donation pickups: sabrina.vanzyl@gmail.com

Ritika Dubey is a reporter at The Spectator. rdubey@thespec.com