An Ottawa man is charged with impaired and dangerous driving after a vehicle struck a house at 495 Penhill Ave., setting the residence ablaze and causing at least $600,000 in damage.
At about 4 a.m., Edward Johnson, 13, was playing video games with a friend staying over for the night when he heard a large bang.
"I thought that maybe I had done something wrong, so I was thinking about what I would say," says Edward.
It was a car crash that caused the clang. Edward's house sits at a T-junction with Mimosa Avenue. The driver missed the turn on the road, police say, and instead crashed directly into the house and ruptured the gas line.
"(Edward) was supposed to be in bed," says Kathleen Johnson, his mother. "But fortunately, he wasn't. He yelled, 'Everybody out of the house,' so we all just ran outside."
Everyone inside escaped unharmed, while the car driver was sent to hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
As flames engulfed the residence, neighbours came by with coffee, food and even the Johnson's car keys. However, the blaze also snared the family's two cars.
It's been 21 years since Kathleen and her husband Byron bought the house. They now have two sons, Edward and Kevin. She says the memories will be hard to leave behind.
"The photographs, the memories - I think that's going to be hard, but on the other hand, I sort of feel, in a funny kind of way, like it's a clean slate. You know, you get to start all over."
Richard Chamberland, 21, will face charges in court at a later date.
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Maggie Padlewska
