Montreal family left homeless after devastating apartment fire

Montreal family struggles to rebuild after apartment fire. (Laurence Brisson Dubreuil/CTV News)

Sabrina Dufaan and her family lost everything after their three-bedroom apartment in Montreal’s Saint-Leonard borough went up in flames.

“I feel like it looks like a dungeon. That's the first thing I said. It's not real, it's not real,” Dufaan said in a recent interview.

The mother of two said her husband lit scented candles while they were home on Dec. 3 and left them unattended while they went to pick up their daughter.

“All of us could have gotten hurt. It could have been worse. I feel really bad, sometimes guilty,” she said.

Clothes, furniture, toys, and memories, all lost. But for Dufaan the worse is seeing her children in pain.

“[My daughter] asks me all the time for her toys, clothes, her room, she wants to come back home. My son, he's not doing so well,” Dufaan said.

The family won’t be able to return to their home until repairs are completed which will take at least a year. Making matters worse, the family also had cash in the home at the time of the fire.

“Our savings got swept away… Burnt.”

The family was already struggling before the fire. And for the past two weeks, they have been sleeping in shelters and at friends' homes.

They did receive some help through a GoFundMe and were able to get a furnished apartment for the next month.

“There are still some good people out there. I'm trying to have some hope,” Dufaan said.

Despite all the obstacles, Dufaan said her family finds strength and love in being all together.