A Barrie-area boy is one of five people, including two other children and two seniors, who died in a house fire in Davidson, Sask., on Feb. 18.
Andrew Frustaci was 12 years old.
Andrew’s father Marc Frustaci and partner Kari Howell, Marc’s parents and his two brothers are driving from Barrie to Saskatchewan for Andrew’s funeral next week.
“It was something I could have never even imagined. It still seems surreal in my head, because he was my boy,” Frustaci told BarrieToday on Saturday morning of the fatal fire. “He was the one who made me a dad to begin with and you never get over this, no way, I think. It’s tough.”
Craik RCMP received a report of a house fire on Ottawa Street at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 18. in Davidson, which is about 90 minutes northwest of Regina.
Davidson Fire Department was already on the scene, and had discovered the residence in flames, when the Mounties arrived.
An 80-year-old man and an 81-year-old woman were removed from the house and transported to Davidson Health Centre, where they were pronounced dead, police said.
Once the fire was extinguished, the remains of three children were also found inside the home, police said.
RCMP, in conjunction with Saskatchewan Public Safety, determined the fatal house fire was non-suspicious in nature.
Frustaci said Andrew was born in Alliston at Stevenson Memorial Hospital, but lived in Barrie between ages four and seven. He had been in Saskatchewan since about age 10, for the last two and half years, with his mother.
“So I would get him through the summer months,” Frustaci said. “They were the best few months and it’s just sad.”
Frustaci said Andrew had a wide variety of interests. He loved building things, with Lego for example, playing hide and go seek, and he was very creative.
“He enjoyed doing stuff where he could make something, like a lemonade stand, “ Frustaci said. “And he was very business oriented.”
Andrew also wanted to get into acting, his dad said.
Frustaci said an inner ear disorder prevents him from flying to Saskatchewan, necessitating the long drive.
He expects to be outside Kenora by the end of Saturday’s drive, then travel 10 hours Sunday and be in Davidson at approximately 4 p.m.
The Family Day weekend blaze decimated the Davidson home, torching its roof, shattering windows and leaving pockmarked burns on melted siding. A neighbour said she saw flames billow from the home’s roof.
Davidson is a town of about 1,100 people.
A GoFundMe campaign to help the family pay for travel and funeral service costs, ‘In Memory of Andrew Frustaci’ has been set up with a goal of $20,000.
Ashley Doucette of Barrie is the organizer of the GoFundMe campaign.
“My longtime close friend, Marc Frustaci, while celebrating his younger son’s birthday, received a call that is every parent’s nightmare,” she wrote on the page. “Andrew was only 12 and had so much life left. Such a wonderful young boy, so caring, loving and just so full of life.”
— With files by SaskToday and The Canadian Press
