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Connie Seibel’s home is still standing thanks to the 7-year-old who knocked on her door.
On the evening of July 29 in Saskatoon’s Mayfair neighbourhood, Seibel noticed someone leaving the backyard of the vacant house next door.
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While she recalled thinking it was odd at the time, she went back inside to help her 91-year-old mom get ready for bed.
Around 7 p.m., though, Seibel heard a knock on her door.
“It was a little boy two doors over, and he said, ‘There’s a fire next door,’” Seibel remembered.
When she came out to look for herself, she saw what the 7-year-old, whose name is Jayce, was talking about.
The quick-moving fire had already spread to a neighbouring tree, throwing fiery seeds everywhere.
Even though the fire started at the vacant house, it melted the siding and insulation of Seibel’s home and broke two windows.
If Jayce hadn’t noticed the fire and come to tell her, “it would have took my house out, I’m sure,” she said.
Beyond saving her home, though, Jayce’s actions also ensured Seibel and her mom had enough time to evacuate.
Connie Seibel made 7-year-old Jayce a superhero cape after he knocked on her door, telling her about the fire raging next door. (Connie Seibel/Submitted)
According to Seibel, her mom is in the late stages of vascular dementia.
“So, she gets confused very, very easily, and she’s mobility challenged,” Seibel said, which makes moving around difficult at the best of times.
“If it would have been a super emergency and I would have went into panic mode more, I don’t know what would have happened. Like I don’t even — I try not to think about that,” she said.
While the fire temporarily displaced Seibel and her mom from their home, she did eventually get to see Jayce and thank him for knocking on her door.
“I made him a superhero cape the other day because he’s my Superhero,” she said.
“He was quite tickled with it,” Seibel added.
Aftermath of the fire
Since the fire, Seibel said her elderly mom has become much more “clingy,” needing to always know where her daughter is.
Though, she’s grateful for all the kindness that’s been shown to them.
During the fire, Seibel tried to go back in the house to grab her mom’s two therapeutic robot cats.
“She calls them her kids,” Seibel said.
Her mom was frantic the cats would be hurt, but Seibel wasn’t allowed to enter.
So, instead, “two cops snuck in and got them, and each one came out carrying these cats,” according to Seibel, instantly helping her mom settle.
The cost of the damages could be up to as much as $30,000 — a steep price tag considering Seibel had no coverage from being in between insurance companies at the time.
“So, that part sucks big time,” she said.
Neighbour Katteresa Zwarich is trying to help ease that financial burden through a GoFundMe she started for Seibel. By Sunday evening, $1,150 had been raised of the $5,000 goal.
As for 7-year-old Jayce, he’s only living in Saskatoon temporarily, according to Seibel. Though, the young kid was here at just the right time for Seibel and her mom.
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