‘Trying to rebuild now’: Family loses all possessions in Thorndale fire

Thames Centre family loses everything Weeks after moving into a new home, a Thames Centre family is homeless after their house caught fire. CTV London's Brent Lale reports.

Dave Sharpe can't believe his family’s bad luck. The home he just moved into earlier this month went up in flames on Tuesday evening.

"It's a lot to take in at once,” said Sharpe, who was on scene at his Rebecca Road house in Thames Centre, just 12 hours after his house caught fire. “Just to know that your entire life is gone, in minutes.”

Sharpe, a single father of four, as well as his mother and father are now looking for a new home.

“For two years, after our landlord sold the house we were living in, we've been looking for a place to live, we find this place and 20 days later, here we are,” said Sharpe.

A passerby called 9-1-1, and Thorndale fire crews responded with assistance from Dorchester fire crews for use of tanker trucks.

Dave Sharpe - Thames Centre - Dec 2022 Dave Sharpe points to the sky where he estimates the flames were 40 to 50 feet high during the peak of his house fire that occurred in Thames Centre on Dec. 27, 2022. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

“Everyone got out and stayed out,” said Colin Shewell, Thames Centre fire chief. “Fortunately there was no one home and everyone stayed out when they did get back home.”

Shewell told CTV News London the cause of the blaze is undetermined, and he estimates the damage at $500,000.

“Unfortunately it is a total loss,” said Shewell. “Crews did their best to contain the fire but it was well along by the time our crews got on scene.”

Having moved in at the beginning of the month, Sharpe was still transporting his possessions from his previous residence to his new rental home.

thames centre fire - dec 2022 Thames Centre fire crews return to the scene of an overnight house fire on Dec. 28, 2022. (Source: Colin Shewell/Twitter)

“I went to do a load of stuff, and my mom and dad went out for supper,” said Sharpe. “They come back and the firefighters were here and my house was engulfed in flames in seconds.”

Currently staying in a London hotel thanks to their landlord, Sharpe is now trying to figure out how the next steps.

“Especially two days after Christmas,” he said. “All of my stuff, my kids’ stuff, my mom and dad’s stuff, everything gone. We're trying to rebuild right now.”

Rebecca Road home - Thames Center - Dec 2022 A home on Rebecca Road in Thames Centre went up in flames on Dec. 27, 2022 and caused $500,000 in damage. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

His kids, who range in age from seven to 14, are trying to process what happened.

“The oldest ones are a mess,” said Sharpe. “The youngest ones don't really understand, as they're more worried about little things like their toys and stuff like that which I understand. But my oldest ones they understand and they were devastated.”

There is currently no online fundraiser for Dave and his family. But if you'd like to help, Sharpe said to contact his mother Karen via email at [e-mail]