Man who lost his parents in Lytton, B.C., fire wants to go home
Warning: Details in this story may be disturbing to some readers
Down a driveway now overgrown, on a fire-ravaged property, sits a memorial to Janette and Michael Chapman.
It is here that their son, Jeff Chapman, brings flowers each time he returns.
“I was very close to my parents,” Chapman said. “We did everything together as a family.”
His world was turned upside down June 30, 2021.
“There was just this feeling that day, afternoon, that I never had before,” he said.
Chapman, who had been living on his parent’s property at the time, spotted smoke down the hill.
“It happened so fast. (From) the time I seen smoke and the time the fire came up, I don’t even think it was 10 minutes before the house was on fire,” he recalled.
At first, the Chapmans didn’t realize the danger they faced, thinking it was a grass fire that they could extinguish.
In video Chapman recorded, you can hear the trio as they frantically search for a fire extinguisher, then come to the shocking realization that the fire had spread to their shed.
“My dad said, ‘Just grab what you can and get out of here.’ The shed just lit up and then the house started to ignite,” he said.
His parents took refuge in a trench on the property. There was no room for Chapman so he ran to the nearby tracks.
From there, he said he watched in horror as his parent’s property, and most of Lytton, burned to the ground.
Thinking he might die, he recorded a video on his phone, saying where his parents were and fearing the worst after a pole fell onto the trench.
“I lost my mom and dad,” he said, sobbing during the video.
He returned to the property about an hour later when the flames had died down.
That’s when he confirmed his worst fears. His parents had not survived.
Now a year later, Chapman said he has good days and bad days.
“I wake up in the middle of the night and I see my mother’s face,” he said.
Fire now triggers fear.
“The sound of fire just totally brings me right back to that day,” he said.
He also battles regret.
“I blame myself for it, you know. If I would have just got in the car and told them to get out of here,” he said, explaining that at the time, he thought it was the safest place to put them.
“Everyday he says he just wants to go home,” said his girlfriend, Brenda Belluz. “He cries about his mom and dad, and that there’s no closure.”
Chapman is still looking for answers.
“I don’t know any more today than I did the day after the fire,” he said.
The fire also took away Chapman’s livelihood. All of his tools for work were lost and he can’t afford to replace them. He’s no longer receiving financial support from the Red Cross.
“How do you grieve and wonder how you are going to pay the high rent?” asked Belluz, who has set up an online fundraiser for Chapman.
His parents’ home was not insured.
Chapman said his parents, both in their 60s, were good people.
“My dad was my mentor…He was everything to me,” Chapman said.
He said his mom was incredibly caring.
Despite what happened, Chapman wants to move back to the property.
And he believes it’s what his parents would want, too.
“When I’m here, I’m here with my parents,” he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.