Family of six lose 'everything' in fire
BY TINA SFONDELES Staff Reporter
Gone in a flash. A home full of memories erased.
A Northlake family of six lost all their possessions — including their Christmas presents — when a basement fire ravaged their Cape Cod-style home Thursday afternoon.
Mike Casanave — a disabled former firefighter and paramedic — and two of his teenage sons escaped unharmed with the help of firefighters, but four of the family’s five cats died in the blaze. An 8-month-old Labrador retriever was rescued but suffered smoke inhalation and was taken to a nearby animal hospital. The surviving cat escaped unharmed.
Officials estimate damage at more than $200,000.
“We just lost everything,” Deb Casanave said Friday. “I mean, there’s clothes, jackets, shoes, furniture. Everything is gone.”
Deb Casanave was at work as an emergency room nurse at Loretto Hospital on the West Side when the fire scorched through the house. She returned to the ash-ridden home Friday to sift through what was left.
“I lost pictures, just things you can’t replace,” she said. “Things from the kids when they were little and all the things I saved for them.”
The Christmas gifts were already under the tree ready for opening, including two MacBooks and a video game system she hoped her sons would like.
Still, the matriarch of the family had other things to worry about, like finding a new home.
“We’re in a hotel for right now, trying to find some place to live,” Deb Casanave said. “But with Mike being in a wheelchair, it’s going to be difficult because most houses aren’t exactly wheelchair accessible.”
Her husband fought fires for five fire departments for more than 20 years but suffered a back injury and is now wheelchair-bound and on disability, she said.
The Casanaves’ family friends — River Grove Fire Department Deputy Chief Dewey Atkocaitis, Chris Wilson of the Bloomingdale Fire Department and Tim Kingsmill of the Itasca Fire Department — have scheduled a fund-raiser Wednesday at the Underpass Lounge in Franklin Park.
The trio has also started a Facebook page listing clothing sizes for the family — which includes Mike and Deb, their 19-year-old son Mikey, 17-year-old son Joe and 14-year-old twins Melissa and Nick, Atkocaitis said.
“They’re just a great family and we’re looking for clothes and trying to help them out,” Atkocaitis said.
Atkocaitis described Mike Casanave as a “great guy” who “has always been the life of the party.”
“He basically would give the shirt off his back when he was working in the ambulance,” Atkocaitis said. “He’s one of the best paramedics I’ve ever worked with.”
Those wishing to help can join the Facebook group “Let’s help the Casanave Family” or e-mail the group at 911forthecasanavefamily@groups.facebook.com.
The cause of the fire, which fire officials said appears accidental, remains under investigation.
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