Family gets new home that won’t burn

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This article was published 16/12/2009 (6001 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Mike and Rona Dumas will never have to worry again about a fire like the one that burned their Sandy Bay home and claimed their daughter last winter.

Their new house is made of recycled steel and other fire-resistant materials.

"It won’t burn. You can have a fire inside the house, but the house won’t burn to the ground," said Dick Morrison, CEO o-f RJ Ecosafe Homes, the company that built the home free of charge after hearing about the family’s tragedy.

What about an outside fire? "If the house was sealed, if the windows were closed and you had a grass fire outside, the house will not burn," Morrison said.

The keys to the home will be handed over to the Dumas family today, accompanied by a traditional feast put on by Sandy Bay First Nation, on the western shore of Lake Manitoba, 160 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. RJ Ecosafe Homes owner Ross Johnson, of Six Nations Reserve, Ont., will also attend.

"It looks amazing. It’s incredible. They did a fantastic job," said a Dumas daughter, Eva. She will be one of 10 people living in the six-bedroom bungalow, with its three-metre-high ceiling basement. The new residents will be parents Mike and Rona, their son, two foster sons, two sisters including Eva, 20, and Eva’s three children.

There were 13 people living in the family’s former home last February when a wood stove used for heat caused the fatal fire. The fire claimed the life of nine-year-old Hope Richard. Rona Dumas had been Hope’s foster mom almost since the girl’s birth and later assumed legal guardianship.

Mike Dumas said his happiness about the new house is tinged with sadness for Hope. "I’m sad that she’s not here. The situation is, we got a house because of her," said Dumas, 47, who will bless everyone who helped with the house in his traditional way. The new 1,100-square-foot home is valued at $200,000 to $225,000. It is also mould-proof, mostly solar heated, and with a state-of-the-art sewage system that turns sewage into virtually drinkable water. The system was donated by Lake Friendly Wastewater Solutions in Pine Falls.

"I’m not going to be the first to (drink it), but that’s what I’ve been told," Morrison said. The sewage will go into a septic field.

The cost of RJ Ecosafe homes is not exorbitant, he said. "It might cost 10 per cent higher than what gets built with sticks and mortar."

"It comes with a kit, so it’s easy to transport in pieces and assemble on site," Morrison said. The company recently opened a Winnipeg office and is contracted to build homes in Grand Rapids and on campus for the new University College of the North in Thompson. Others who donated to the project include the Manitoba Government and General Employees Union and BuildBetter By Cardinal in Pennsylvania.

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca