Alban family to rebuild again after second house fire in as many years

A family in the northern Ontario community of Alban is looking to rebuild yet again after a neighbouring fire destroyed their almost finished house.

A northern Ontario family must rebuild yet again after another devastating fire – the second in as many years.

Charred debris is all that’s left of the Lacombe family home in Alban. Construction on the residence was almost finished when a fire at a neighbouring home this week spread to their property.

“They were just about finished this house. It was almost done and then the neighbour’s (home) caught fire due to an electrical fire,” said Sean Grech, a relative of the Lacombe family.

“It spread across the yard and they weren’t home. It burned down this house right before it was finished.”

Jacob Lacombe, his wife, their daughter and his mother weren’t yet living in the new house -- they’ve been living in a small camp near the home.

Lacombe and his wife had been rebuilding the house after the first one was destroyed by an electrical fire in June 2023.

“It came onto our side and burnt the whole place down,” Lacombe told CTV News by phone.

“All of the work that me and my wife had put in, all our money, all our life savings. Everything is gone.”

Lacombe said the original house had insurance, but as they slowly started to rebuild, they couldn’t afford the steep rate hike, so the new construction was not insured.

“Right now, we’re not sure what we can do. We don’t have the money to rebuild it or anything,” he said.

“We’re just in shambles right now. We’re not sure what’s going to happen yet.”

They also lost tools and equipment that had been on site during the construction.

A GoFundMe page has since raised almost $10,000 to help the family get back on its feet.

“With not having the insurance on top of that, any help helps them right now. So, we wanted to try. We know the community likes to help,” Grech said.

Lacombe said they plan to rebuild again and said the support from the community has been welcome.

“The community is amazing; we have a lot of support from our community. A lot of good friends helping us out,” he said.

Fire officials with French River Fire Services said the cause of the fire at the neighbouring house is still undetermined.