A couple from the North Okanagan lost everything in a fire this week and are trying to rebuild their lives in time for the birth of their first child, due in May.
The fire, which police are investigating as suspicious, destroyed the main home and basement suite Monday where Kira Sawatzky lived with her partner Kyle Petersmeyer in Armstrong, in B.C.'s North Okanagan.
"It was a traumatizing night," Sawatzky told Chris Walker, the host of CBC's .
The couple were up later than usual, watching Netflix, when Sawatzky, who is seven-and-a-half months pregnant, got up for a moment.
"I saw a glowing light on the wall and thought it looked a whole lot like fire," she said. "I went around the corner and saw flames coming out the backdoor."
The fire had started outside, so the four fire alarms in the house didn't go off. When Petersmeyer opened the back door, fire and smoke billowed in.
By that point, the whole back of the house was engulfed, Sawatzky said.
"For the first time, my motherly instinct really kicked in," she said. "I said 'Kyle, we have to go right now.'"
The couple narrowly escaped. Sawatzky was uninjured but Petersmeyer, seconds behind her, suffered extensive burns on his arm.
'Everything is gone'
There was no time to grab any of their belongings from the house, which they rented.
"We were in our pyjamas, no shoes, no phone or anything," Sawatzky said. "Everything is gone."
They had recently moved into the house and did not yet have renters' insurance.
Now, all of the items they accumulated for the arrival of their baby are gone, Petersmeyer said, from the clothes bought by family members to baby bottles and crib.
"Kira has been sewing everything handmade, cloth diapers and baby blankets," he said. "We had a list of everything we needed and literally everything on the list was crossed off, we were 100 per cent ready."
Their priority now is finding a new place to live, he said.
Since the fire, Sawatzky said people in the community have banded together to help them.
She said she and her partner are grateful for the help they've received, from blankets the night of the fire to the outpouring of donations in the days since.
RCMP says the fire remains under investigation.
With files from Daybreak South and Brady Stratchan.