A family in northeast B.C. is picking up the pieces after a massive fire burned their house to the ground.

The fire broke out on the morning of March 12 in Arras, a rural community about 20 kilometres west of Dawson Creek.

Guy Grenier told CBC Radio West host Sarah Penton that he was driving his wife, Emily Manfron, to work shortly after 8 a.m. when they got a frantic call from one of their daughters, who said, “Help, help, help, the house is on fire.”

“I was like, well, throw some water on it. We didn’t realize just how bad it was,” Grenier said.

“It was a log home, so [the fire] went quick.”

As the flames tore through the house, the couple’s nine children scrambled to safety and out into -17 C temperatures, Grenier said.

One of the children picked up and carried her sister, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, out of the house.

“No shoes, no socks, some of them with no pants,” Grenier said.

By the time volunteer firefighters arrived, there was little they could do.

“Once they got here, they knew they couldn’t save the house,” Grenier said.

“The house is levelled. There’s no walls, there’s no floors, there’s no nothing. There’s just a basement.”

While the cause of the fire is under investigation, Grenier says it’s believed a freezer compressor may have overheated and ignited.

Grenier says several children were treated for smoke inhalation and one of his daughters suffered frostbite on her toes. 

The reality of how close the family came to tragedy is still sinking in.

“If it wasn’t for one of my daughters waking up, we would have lost all our kids,” Grenier said.

Four of the family’s five dogs also escaped the fire, but a pit bull named Cocoa is still missing.

The family has returned to the property daily to look for the dog, and to tend to their chickens and turkeys.

“Hoping that he did get out and he just got scared,” Grenier said. “We’re hoping that he comes around.”

Support for the family has come from across the Peace region in the days since the fire.

An online fundraiser has raised more than $2,300, while Grenier and Manfron say they have also received donations of money and home-cooked meals to help clothe and feed their kids.

The family is staying in a hotel while finalizing details to move into a home that’s been offered to them in Arras. Grenier says that will allow the children to remain in the same school.

“We can’t help but choke up about it because the community has come together so well,” Grenier said.

Manfron says the family is staying positive and waiting patiently for their house to be rebuilt.

“It’s an upsetting thing to lose all of our stuff, but my kids call it a reset,” she said. “We’ve just got to start all over and start rebuilding and make new memories.”

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