Teenage brothers among those displaced in house fire

Sep 27, 2019 | 6:45 AM

It’s a moment 19-year-old RJ Liebelt and 17-year-old J.R Liebelt will never forget, the moment the two brothers drove home from a volleyball game, only to find their home gutted by flames.

“We had heard from a friend that he had heard that there was a fire around my neighborhood and as we drove up we had seen that it was my house instead,” said Liebelt

The two brothers who are avid musicians were renting out the downstairs suite of the home on 35 Avenue for less than a year.

Clothes, electronics, and used furniture were destroyed in the blaze, as were their instruments which included an expensive saxophone.

Still even after losing all of their belongings, a sense of hope and optimism prevails.

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“We didn’t lose all that much. Obviously we are devastated, but we will definitely manage better than the others in the situation,” said Liebelt.

Vernon Fire Rescue confirm a mother and two children escaped from the home uninjured at the time of the blaze.

The Liebelt brothers admit they didn’t speak much to their upstairs tenant but called them a good family.

“She’s a very nice mother of two kids who cares a lot about her children, which I think is very integral to a good family but again she is taking it a lot harder than I or J.R are” said R.J Liebelt.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise funds for the displaced family.

The brothers, who have called Vernon home since they were young boys, said friends and family will likely support them until they find a new place to call home.

“They have come up and spoken to us and said if we needed anything, we could definitely have that help.”

“It makes me feel very comforted to know that I am not hopeless or without a place,” said R.J. Liebelt

Vernon Fire Rescue told reporters Thursday that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.

by Tiffany Goodwein

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