Penticton man survives Boxing Day house fire but loses nearly everything

Brian Forth was sleeping soundly when his home caught fire Boxing Day, and now his daughter is trying to help him rebuild his life.

Forth lived off the grid on Green Mountain Road near Penticton with his partner Julia Pepin, and around midnight on Dec. 26 a fire took their home, pets and most of their belongings. Forth’s daughter Arianna Smith is raising money online to help them rebuild their lives.

“I’m just really grateful my dad made it out,” Smith said. “It was just such a unique place… I almost don’t, I don’t believe it’s gone.”

She said they were always careful with the wood stove, but a freak accident started the inferno in the middle of the night.

Forth was asleep upstairs and Pepin was out visiting her son down the road when the blaze began. When Forth woke up to the smoke and the alarms he ran downstairs.

As he fled the house, running across a melting carpet, he got third degree burns including on his hands and feet. Forth is still in hospital and Smith said his recovery is going to take months.

Forth and Pepin have lived on the property for years. They rented the place, but put work into it and made it their own. Smith said the house, which the family called the “barn” was a unique place that reflected who Forth and Pepin are.

“It’s off grid and I just loved going there. We’d be able to snowmobile, we’d be able to just enjoy the summer sun and go on walks and just disconnect from Wi-Fi,” she said. “Throughout the years, he’s made it a livable space. And Julia… kept up the house in a very unique style of decorating.”

Smith said Forth had recently spent a big chunk of his savings, $6,000, on treatment for his German Shepherd named Princess, but she died in the fire before Forth woke up.

The couple lost valuable collections of stamps, models and coins.

They didn’t have insurance so Smith turned to the community even though her dad isn’t one to ask for help lightly.

“He’s a non-stop work guy,” she said. “He just needs a little nest egg to not feel too stressed.”

The online fundraiser has nearly $1,000, and friends and family have reached out and helped the family as well.

“The community has been very helpful. Just by hearing about it,” she said. “That really touched my heart.”

Smith said couple aren’t sure what the future holds and where they will go when Forth is out of the hospital, but she knows they are going to recover.

“He’s such a genuine, helpful, happy but very sentimental, loving person. And I don’t know why bad things happen to the best of us,” she said.