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
Grandparent scam: London, Ont., senior beats fraudsters not once, but twice
It was a typical Tuesday for Mabel Beharrell, 84, until she got the call that would turn her world upside down. Her teenaged grandson was in trouble and needed her help.
Deaths of 4 people on Sask. farm confirmed as murder-suicide
The deaths of four people on a farm near the Saskatchewan village of Neudorf have been confirmed a murder-suicide.
CRA no longer requiring 'bare trust' reporting in 2023 tax return
The Canada Revenue Agency announced Thursday it will not require 'bare trust' reporting from Canadians that it introduced for the 2024 tax season, just four days before the April 2 deadline.
Full parole granted to man convicted in notorious 'McDonald's murders' in Cape Breton
The Parole Board of Canada has granted full parole to one of three men convicted in the brutal murders of three McDonald's restaurant workers in Cape Breton more than 30 years ago.
Incident on Calgary's Reconciliation Bridge comes to safe resolution
Nearly 20 hours after a man climbed and remained perched on top of the Reconciliation Bridge in downtown Calgary, the situation came to a peaceful resolution.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
George Washington family secrets revealed by DNA from unmarked 19th century graves
Genetic analysis has shed light on a long-standing mystery surrounding the fates of U.S. President George Washington's younger brother Samuel and his kin.
'We won't forget': How some Muslims view Poilievre's stance on Israel-Hamas war
A spokesman for a regional Muslim advocacy group says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's stance on the Israel-Hamas war could complicate his party's relationship with Muslim Canadians.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.