A family of four is looking for a place to live after their Lugrin Road trailer burned down, Monday morning.
Darlene and Barry Manson were awakened by their five-year-old son, who said there was a fire outside his bedroom window.
When the parents looked in the room the fire was spreading fast; Barry Manson tried to put it out with blankets, but the flames quickly overtook his efforts and eventually gutted the house. The family escaped unharmed with only a few possessions.
The cause is initially said to be electrical, Darlene Manson said.
The family had no insurance. They’ve been buoyed so far with emergency services funding.
“We’ve been staying at various parents and our inlaws’ house since,” Manson said.
The family is caught between a rock and a hard place where finances are concerned.
Barry works at West Coast General Hospital, but was paying $1,060 a month for the trailer and pad rental, which he assumed in 2007.
Now they’re looking for a place to live and will have to pay rent on top of what is still owed on the trailer.
“We’ll be speaking to the bank to see what our options are,” Darlene said,
The family has been overwhelmed with donations—so much so that they’re running out of places to store them.
But what the family of four with two small dogs really needs now is shelter.
“We’re looking for a place to live and can pay up to $1,000 a month for rent,” Manson said.
“Actually, we’ll have to pay a bit less so we can save to get back on our feet.”
reporter@albernivalleynews.com