Single mother and two children victims in mountain townhouse fire

Lambeau and Khaleesi McIsaac were typical kids. They loved pizza and used to play with their friends at school.

Seven-year-old Khaleesi’s favorite color was purple. Her older brother, Rambo, who was eight years old, loved blue.

“They were very smart kids,” 20-year-old Sunni Kreisler said of her younger brothers. They gave me.”

Two children and their mother, Kathy Kreisler, died in an East Mountain townhouse fire on December 29.

“She would do anything for anyone,” said Cassie’s mother, Wendy Genero. “She was always kind to people.”

“She was a wonderful sister.

Wendy said Kathy, 40, often took her children to rent a townhouse at 14 Derby Street to visit her father, sometimes staying overnight. Kassie didn’t drive. Wendy would pick them up from time to time.

“Kathy always wanted her kids to be able to spend time with their dad,” said Wendy. “They had her dinner with me for Christmas. The next day they went to Dad’s.”

The Ontario Fire Department said Tuesday that the fire started in an upholstered sofa on the main floor of Unit 4. Unit 4 is a townhouse complex on He Rymal Road East, near Upper Gage, with 50 townhomes.

A 40-year-old man, whose identity has not been confirmed by The Spectator, also died in the fire, and two more residents were taken to hospital but survived.

The residence did not have a working fire alarm.

A spokesperson for Valery Homes, which owns 29 units in the complex, said the townhouse in Unit 4 had three active smoke alarms when last inspected on July 15, 2022. rice field.

Smoke alarms are inspected annually, the company said.

“Our site personnel have noticed that the unit’s smoke detector has been removed by a resident,” marketing director Dyna Teal said in an email Thursday.

She said personnel reinstalled and tested the alarm and “instructed residents not to remove the alarm again.”

Constant Indy Balaji said Hamilton police are not currently investigating the fire and no police charges have been filed at this time.

Two memorials were erected in honor of them – one to the house where they died and the other to the downtown apartment where they lived.

A small group of neighbors gathered in the stairwell of their Melrose Avenue South apartment on Thursday to decorate the door of the family’s apartment with artificial flowers and posters paying tribute to the community. There is a small pile of stuffed animals that I have collected for the purpose at my front door.

Cheryl Villeneuve said Rambo and Kaleesi are “great kids”.

“We knocked on their door so they could come out and play,” she said.

Neighbors said residents of the eight-unit apartment complex were tight-knit, with children playing on the building’s lawn and celebrating birthdays. In the summer, children, and sometimes even adults, go outside to play in the water.

“I hear a child’s heart break”

When Brandi Rennick’s 7-year-old son returns from winter break to the second grade classroom at Adelaide Hoodless Elementary School, there’s an empty seat next to him.

Seven-year-old Khaleesi, who died in the fire, was his best friend and classmate for two years.

“He was beside himself with grief when we told him what had happened,” Rennick said of his son. “It was like hearing a child’s heart break.” .”

Third graders Khaleesi and Lambeau were regular visitors to Rennick’s home. They attended children’s birthday parties and often joined the family for pizza and movie nights.

“They were resilient, joyful, very happy, and very kind,” she told The Spectator.

Kay Pollock said Khaleesi, who was in her daughter’s class, “had a great smile and an even bigger laugh.”

“She was so nice to her friends and so funny,” Pollock said, sharing a comment from daughter Laila.

In a January 3 letter, Adelaide Hoodless Principal Nancy Jane Simpson informed families of “the recent tragedy that has affected our school community.”

As a single parent, Chrysler faced challenges, according to Rennick. Despite them, she allowed her children to “live a life full of joy.”

“You’ll see them running errands or whatever in the neighborhood with their moms, and you’ll see them holding hands and walking together like they’re best friends,” she said.

With his family’s permission, Rennick launched a GoFundMe to cover funeral costs and support his surviving siblings.

“I know she’s a wonderful mother and did everything she could for her baby,” Lennick told The Spectator. “With these kids, she didn’t deserve this.”

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