Family grateful for ‘angels’

Two P.E.I. teenage boys, Alberton man rescue family from burning home

PORTAGE, P.E.I. – A P.E.I. man is thanking three Islanders for saving the lives of his mother and stepfather after a fire destroyed their home in Portage on Nov. 19.

“I don't know what would have happened if not for those two young boys and the man,'' Boyd Cornish told SaltWire Network in a telephone interview on Nov. 21. “I honestly don't. Mom and Lorne were sound asleep. The smoke might have took them before anything.''

Cornish, 48, of Bloomfield said he was awakened in the early morning hours of Nov. 19 by a text from his sister that their mother's house was on fire.

Cornish said he jumped in his car and got there as fast as he could.

When he arrived, his mother, Ruth Cornish, and his stepfather, Lorne (Cricket) Gillis, were outside as fire consumed the house and workshops.

ON THE ROAD

John Rochford of Alberton noticed the smoke and flames while he was driving down the highway. Rochford pulled into the yard and called 911.

The O'Leary, West Point and Tyne Valley fire departments responded. Davis Gallant, a captain with the O'Leary Fire Department, said the 911 call came in at 1:30 a.m.

However, before firefighters arrived, the two teenagers jumped into action.

Just behind Rochford, Clay Rayner, 16, of Alberton and Bryden Oliver, 17, of Greenmount-Montrose were heading home from Tyne Valley when Clay, who was driving, spotted smoke and flames coming from the Portage home.

“I locked on the brakes and turned to see what was happening,'' Clay said, adding that when he and Bryden got to the house, Rochford had already called 911.

“I asked (John) if anyone was inside and he didn't know, so I started banging on the door and the windows. The door was locked, so I banged on the doors trying to wake them up. Both barns on either side of house were on fire and it was catching on to the house.''

Clay, a student at Westisle Composite High School in Elmsdale, said when Lorne and Ruth came to the door neither knew the barns and house were burning.

Lorne and Ruth got out safely, but Ruth told Clay her three cats and all the couple's medication was still inside. Clay said he ran into the house couldn't find the cats. However, he did save all the medication. The cats perished in the fire.

“Right now, I'm just glad we were in the right place at the right time because I know they would have slept right through it,'' Clay said. “If we had come down the road 30 seconds later it could have been a lot worse.

“We were just trying to do the right thing,'' said Bryden, also a student at Westisle. “I didn't even notice (the fire), to be honest, Clay did."

“I don't want to be portrayed as a hero, knowing that these two elderly people are without a home. We are just grateful that we were there.''

Gallant said the O'Leary department arrived with 15 firefighters and five trucks.

"Soon after we realized needed more manpower and water, so we called in mutual aid from Tyne Valley and West Point,'' Gallant said, adding that 30 firefighters in total battled the blaze.

Boyd said John, Clay and Bryden are more than heroes.

“There are not enough thank yous,'' Boyd said. “They are angels, in my eyes. You can replace a house and they do intend on rebuilding, but I can't replace my mother.''

Neither the house nor the barns were insured. Lorne, a carpenter by trade, also lost all his tools in the fire.

Boyd said Lorne and Ruth were put up in a hotel for three nights by the Canadian Red Cross.

A former relative of Lorne's has also donated a camper where the couple will move to.

Boyd said two GoFundMe drives have been set up, and a benefit is in the process of being organized.

Gallant said the fire started in one of the barns, adding that the cause is listed as undetermined.

"There was a wood heating source in one of the barns, but I don't know if it was in use or not,'' Gallant said.