Nova Scotia man finds hope amid the ashes of his family home destroyed by a wildfire

Peter Walsh watched as the charred rubble that used to be part of his daughter’s bedroom was removed by an excavator clearing his property.

“It’s hard to believe that this is all you’ve been working towards and all your life has been reduced to,” he said.

The house was destroyed by wildfires near Halifax that started in late May.

Walsh sees the bright side, knowing that rebuilding his family’s home in the Westwood Hills neighborhood of Upper Tantallon is a step closer as remediation work is underway.

“They’re basically getting the site ready to hand over to a contractor,” he said. “You see that faint light at the end of the tunnel.”

He got another boost last week by finding a rental in nearby Bedford. That has made his wife, daughter of eight and two sons of 11 and 13 better.

The family has felt lucky to have been given a place to live by people who have been out of town, but having their own space offers more stability, Walsh said.

Since the loss of their home, one of 151 destroyed or damaged by the Upper Tantallon bushfire, the family faces new challenges almost every day.

According to data from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. released on July 5, the fire is estimated to have caused more than $165 million in insured damage.

“It’s the first stage of trying to do 100 things at once while also taking care of your family’s needs,” he said. “It’s overwhelming.”

This was accompanied by discussions with insurers about their home, but also about a replacement vehicle. That meant arranging test drives.

It also included buying new clothes and other necessities. Walsh had to check rent lists constantly, sometimes well past midnight.

He found a place during an ongoing housing crisis, but it costs more than he hoped to pay.

Still paying the mortgage

“The real estate we have is $3,700 a month,” he said. “This fire did not cause the crisis, it only added 150 families.”

The family has an insurance budget for additional living expenses that is there to help with the rent. They are now also looking for furniture for their rental home.

While this is happening, they are also still paying the mortgage on the house that burned down.

Walsh is concerned that the additional costs paid by insurance will not be able to cover the rent for the two years it will take to rebuild their Westwood Hills home.

“In a year I may have to find another rental that is a little bit lower on the budget,” he said.

He said the four-bedroom house is bigger than what the family was looking for, but he signed the lease on the property before he even looked at it, given the rental market and so many other things to do.

“This is like having a second full-time job,” he said of the overall experience. “It’s been tough.”

His family’s resilience has amazed him through all the loss.

Together they made a list of everything they need to replace, which is now 70 pages. It includes guitars, keyboards, microphones and drums, both he and his oldest son are missing.

Some things cannot be replaced, such as tools collected over three generations.

However, the family is happy that the insurance company has organized the remediation work on the property.

Steel that remained has been removed. Ashes from the fire have also been disposed of.

“Those materials had to be separated and thought had to be given to how they were disposed of because of the potential toxicity that existed in the remains of the house,” he said.

Jamesway Environmental Services has performed work on site and at a number of other locations in the surrounding area.

“We separate the material so we can transport it to the right facilities,” says Phil James, a manager at the company. “Then we remove the foundation for new construction so the homeowners can rebuild.”

James said his crew is excavating the ashes and transporting them to an approved facility.

“It’s the first step in a rebuild,” he said. “It’s a big concern for a lot of homeowners to get ahead. So we’re just trying to help where we can.”

It is still very early in the rebuilding process. But Walsh said it feels good to be back in the property where the family has lived since 2016.

“Earlier I saw some deer running down the avenue and things like that still make me smile.” he said. “So it’s a little bit more hopeful now.”

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