Achi news desk-
The Hammonds Plains fires are now a year in the past, but for many of the residents who lost their homes or were displaced, the event is still fresh.
“It was very traumatic to have minutes to leave your home and see smoke and fire burning around you,” said Elsje Falcone.
Seventy-one families in the Haliburton subdivision lost their homes, and another 38 were damaged.
Elsje and Jim Falcone were among the lucky few to escape the flames with their home untouched, many still not rebuilding their properties.
“We have since been displaced, but the people who are still in the subdivision, either with major damage, minor damage, or no damage are still feeling this impact on a daily basis,” he said. Tricia Murray-D’Eon, resident and chairman of the Highland Park Taxpayers Association.
As part of the healing process, Murray-D’Eon helped organize a social and community ice cream walk for those from the devastated subdivision.
“It’s important to get the community together. We’re celebrating moving forward, this is not a moment of tragedy,” said Murray-D’Eon. “This is a way of coming together to celebrate a new year. We hope people can continue to rebuild and come back to our community and that we will eventually be whole again.”
Moving forward together is one of the steps in that process.
“Our house was damaged in the fire. We didn’t lose our home, but our home was damaged by the fire, but a lot of our neighbors lost their homes so we’ve been coming together more as a community since the fire,” said Krista Hilchey.
“We remember the last year, as a family, the trauma we went through, the support and resilience afterwards. But as Krista said, supporting each other is very important to us,” adds her husband, Jeff.
That’s how the community has come this far, and will continue to do so moving forward.
