{"id":466715,"date":"2026-02-10T22:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T22:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/466715\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T22:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T22:22:10","slug":"cape-breton-family-devastated-by-loss-of-home-4-pets-in-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/466715\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Breton family devastated by loss of home, 4 pets in fire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\" alt=\"Text to Speech Icon\" width=\"44\" height=\"44\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<p>A community has rallied in support of a Cape Breton family grieving the loss of their home and four pets in a fire late last month.<\/p>\n<p>Christina Johnston, her husband and six children lived in the farmhouse in Middle River, N.S., for over 10 years. On the night of Jan. 29, she and her daughter Grace came home to discover the fire.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt just felt eerie,\u201d Johnston said in an interview with CBC&#8217;s Information Morning Cape Breton. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until I opened the door that the black smoke came pouring out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of her dogs came out when she opened the door. She put him in the back of her truck and told her daughter to call 911.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A puppy and kitten sleep together.\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770762129_688_default.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3333333333333333\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/>The Johnstons&#8217; new puppy and kitten died in the fire. (Christina Johnston)<\/p>\n<p>Remaining in the house were two adult dogs, a puppy and a kitten.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just kept trying to get into the house to get the rest of the animals, but I just couldn\u2019t get in,\u201d Johnston said.<\/p>\n<p>All four died in the fire. Johnston said her family is devastated by the loss of the pets and the home.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Two huskies sit in the snow. \"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770762129_589_default.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:0.736\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/>The Johnstons&#8217; two adult huskies died in the house fire. (Christina Johnston)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s completely gone,\u201d Johnston said. \u201cThere\u2019s literally just a hole left.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But she said she felt the support from her community right away. As she watched the house burn, she was receiving phone calls from people offering a place to stay.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"A blue house with two kids looking through the windows. \"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770762130_993_default.jpg\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1\" data-cy=\"image-img\"\/>The Johnston family farmhouse before it burned down. (Christina Johnston)<\/p>\n<p>Kyle Mulley, who coaches her son Johnny&#8217;s hockey team, started an online fundraiser for the family, which he said is involved in the community through hockey and their church.<\/p>\n<p>The fundraiser has collected over $32,000 in nine days.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[It has] really nothing to do with me at all,\u201d said Mulley, who has known the family only since October. \u201cIt&#8217;s all about the Johnstons. And I think what they do for their community is really why the return came back so successful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mulley said the funds will help cover temporary housing, clothing and everyday essentials.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo really start from scratch is a tough, tough thing to go through,\u201d he said. \u201cThe community really rallied behind us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m blown away by how compassionate people have been,\u201d Johnston said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>While the family figures out the next steps with their insurance company, they are staying in a nearby cottage.<\/p>\n<p>MORE TOP STORIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-466715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}