(Kitchener Record)

Family loses all in blaze

Arson suspected in three fires

CHERRI GREENO

ROBERT WILSON, RECORD STAFF As fire officials examine 140 Cameron St. after an early morning fire yesterday, Joe Vanderzand comforts his niece Melanie, who was in the house when it broke out.

KITCHENER (Dec 10, 2004)

The little girl bounces delicately through the living room, clutching an oversized box of white tissues in her tiny hands.

"Here you go," she says, her voice starting to quiver as she extends a handful of wrinkled tissues to her grandmother.

For a brief moment, Mary Vanderzand manages a smile.

"You see," she says, her voice soft and shaky. "Without her I don't know how I'd carry on my day."

Vanderzand is almost numb as she sits, back straight, hands planted on her lap, in her sister's living room.

She's trying to relive in words just how close she came to losing two-year-old Daniela and the rest of her family when fire ravaged her Cameron Street home early yesterday.

What makes this tragedy worse is that Vanderzand's family business is now destroyed.

She owned Ritchie Button Company, an almost 100-year-old sewing business that she took over from her father years ago and operated out of the house.

Inside were several different types of tools, including 10 sewing machines.

The house and business were both insured.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old man in connection with the fire and two others that occurred in the neighbourhood.

One started at 10 p.m. Wednesday at a display booth inside the Frederick Street Mall and another at 12:40 a.m. yesterday at Krista's Hair Salon at 268 Frederick St.

Damage in the Frederick street fires was minor compared to the one at Vanderzand's home.

The teen has been charged with two counts of disregard for human life and one count of arson. He is in custody and is scheduled for a hearing today.

When the blaze started on the front porch of her home shortly after 2:30 a.m. Vanderzand was asleep in the attic. Daniela and her mother, 21-year-old Melanie, who is Vanderzand's daughter, were sleeping on the second floor. Vanderzand's 18-year-old son, William, and his father, Brian, were asleep in the basement.

It was Melanie who first heard a sound coming from the porch.

"I went downstairs and I looked out the window and saw the fire," she recalled yesterday afternoon.

She ran upstairs and found a housecoat to wrap Daniela in, yelling to her mother, "Get up. The house is on fire."

William and his father had also awakened and were escaping.

Vanderzand jumped out of bed, phoned 911 and ran downstairs to meet Melanie and Daniela on the balcony at the back of the house. However, she forgot the key to the balcony door and had to run back up to her room. By the time she reached the second floor, it was engulfed in smoke. She felt her way to the balcony, opened it and helped Melanie punch out the screen door.

"It (the smoke) was so thick. I couldn't see," Melanie recalls.

Within minutes, Waterloo regional police officers arrived and grabbed a nearby ladder to reach the balcony.

The family was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. They had escaped with only their pajamas. No socks, no shoes, no jackets.

When news of an arrest came, Vanderzand and her family could only shake their heads. If someone set fire to their home, they want to know why.

"If my daughter wouldn't have woken up, we wouldn't be here," Vanderzand says.

The family also lost all the Christmas presents they had bought as well as many sentimental items.

"My grandfather made me a crib when I was born," Melanie says tearfully. "I could have passed it on."

She stops for a moment and covers her eyes with her hands. Daniela rushes over with a tissue.

Melanie smiles at her daughter but is unable to stop the tears.

"I could have passed it on to her when she had her babies."

cgreeno@therecord.com

HOW TO HELP

A trust fund has been set up to help the family. Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so at any TD Canada Trust bank under the Vanderzand In Trust account.