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Family uprooted by suspicious fire grateful for support

Salmon Arm man thankful treasured artwork, family photos undamaged
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A Salmon Arm family’s lives have been uprooted after a fire seriously damaged their home

On Thursday, March 14 a trailer in Broadview Mobile Villa belonging to Gord and Peggy Parmenter was destroyed by fire.

Adding to the stress of the loss is the fact police are calling the fire suspicious and likely the result of arson.

A GoFundMe page set up to help the Parmenters notes tires had been slashed on both vehicles at the residence during the fire.

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Gord says he has no idea who would bear ill will towards he and his wife. He says there is an active police investigation into the fire but that is all they know.

“I was extremely impressed with emergency services,” Gord said.

He said Columbia Shuswap Regional District Emergency Services provided them with a Walmart gift card to help cover incidental costs and also paid for a three-night hotel stay. Insurance is covering further hotel costs.

Now the Parmenters are in search of rental accommodation. They have already encountered difficulty locating a furnished short-term rental.

“What we need right now is a house,” Gord said.

As the cleanup of the badly-burned home got underway, some hope sprang from the charred remains. Several paintings done by Gord’s late sister survived in an area of the house that was badly damaged in the blaze. Family photographs feared lost were also located in plastic boxes, undamaged by the fire.

“It means everything,” Gord said of the recovery of some of the paintings.

Gord recommends everyone store important family keepsakes in sturdy container.

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“We feel very well cared for in a lot of different directions. We have lots of family here and our family has been 100 per cent behind us in every way,” Gord said.

At press time, the GoFundMe page had raised $3,360 of a $10,000 goal. A trust for the family has also been set up through SASCU. Salmon Arm credit union members can donate by visiting any branch and asking to give to the Parmenter house fire trust; non members can also donate but only with cash.

“These funds, it just blows me away about those and how they’re developing,” Gord said of the fundraising effort to help he and his family get back on their feet.


@SalmonArm
jim.elliot@saobserver.net

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Police are treating the fire which damaged the Parmenter family’s home in Broadview Mobile Villa on March 14 as suspicious. (Jim Elliot/Salmon Arm Observer)


Jim Elliot

About the Author: Jim Elliot

I’m a B.C. transplant here in Whitehorse at The News telling stories about the Yukon's people, environment, and culture.
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