A Red Deer man has lost everything in a mobile home fire, except the clothes on his back, in this bitter cold snap.
Chayd Lenz and his girlfriend awoke to the smell of smoke late Saturday evening.
The two decided to check what was going on.
Lenz was crushed and devastated when he saw the house was covered in smoke.
He said he was in disbelief when he realized it was a fire.
The 26-year-old said he has lost furniture, TV, computer, clothing, and everything he collected since he’s been on his own at the age of 17 in the Mustang Acres home fire.
“Pretty much everything inside the house was toast, more or less start over… we tried to salvage a couple things that were a little further away from the fire but it’s the smoke that destroyed everything,” the Red Deerian said adding the house is no longer habitable.
But mostly what hurts is his two cats – Lennox and Pandora – who are nowhere to be found, he said Wednesday.
“They’re more important than anything else,” he said, adding that they are still missing.
“I have talked to pretty much everyone around the trailer park.”
Lenz rented the mobile home with his roommate Stephen Webb, who was not home during the fire. The duo is now staying with the landowner/friend.
Despite the tragedy, Lenz is thankful he has friends who are putting him up, helping him look for cats, and fundraising on his behalf on GoFundMe. As of Wednesday afternoon, the page had raised $294 out of its $5,000 goal.
Britanny Gorr, a friend to both roommates started the GoFundMe page.
“I would hope somebody would do the same for me,” she said Wednesday.
The page states the fire started underneath the floorboards.
Lenz, who is an equipment operator by trade, works temporary jobs currently which makes starting over harder.
“You just make enough to survive with temp agencies, having a real job helps a lot more.”
mamta.lulla@reddeeradvocate.com
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