'It was just too much'
Brother talks about fatal Melrose fire
MELROSE - Johnnie Langley, covered in bandages, sporting cuts and burns on his back and head, just stood and stared.
Everything he and his 57-year-old brother Everett had built was gone.
Everett was gone too.
A day after his trailer was burnt to the ground, Johnnie couldn't come to grips with what had happened.
He was obviously devastated but agreed to talk to The Journal about the tragedy that claimed his sibling's life.
Johnnie, 52, said he was in his bedroom shortly before 7 am on Tuesday, August 8, when Everett emerged from his bedroom and told him there was fire spreading up the wall and into the ceiling.
"(Everett) just went into (his bedroom) to do some things and…(he walked out of the room and said), 'I need to get some water!'" Johnnie told The Journal while family members looked on last Wednesday.
"I said, 'Wait a minute - don't touch nothing.' I went to open the (door into Everett's bedroom) and it went whoosh! I said 'Woah, don't touch it. Leave it alone!'"
However Everett thought he could put the flames out. Johnnie said Everett then opened the bedroom door, which caused an explosion of flames that spewed out and ran across the trailer's ceiling.
"It wasn't five seconds and the whole side wall, the ceiling, came right down on top of him, right there. It pushed me back up away from him," Johnnie said.
"I jumped out through the window, ran around and smashed out the patio door, trying to get a hold of him, but it was just too much. Too much."
Just what caused the fire remains a mystery but Johnnie believes it was a lightning strike.
"(The RCMP) never said…they're not sure if it was electrical from the lightning storm or what. I think it was lightning. It hit the corner of the trailer…hit the wires, went through the wires (into the trailer) and it was just up in no time," he said.
When asked how much time passed from when the fire was first discovered to when the trailer was completely engulfed, Johnnie said, "It wasn't long, because when I jumped out of the window and I went over to smash out the patio door to get at my brother, the other windows were already blown out with flames shooting out. It was that quick.
"It just cooked it, cooked everything."
The brothers had four dogs - all chihuahuas - that were also killed in the fire.
"It's bad enough losing my four dogs…but to lose my brother…"
Johnnie said Everett had lived in the trailer since "1978 or 79".
"He lived (in the trailer) with mom and dad until dad died. Mom got married again and Everett took over the trailer.
"I come over from Prince Edward Island, I moved in to help him with the wood and everything, keep the trailer going, do some more renovations around the place.
"It was starting to look good. It was a nice spot, it was coming along. It's lovely now."
Johnnie said Everett had worked for Country Harbour pulp cutter Rickey McLaren for "twenty-something" years.
"Everett was a pulp cutter; he cut pulp all his life…Country Harbour, Cape Breton…wherever Ricky McLaren went, he went with him."
Johnnie said Everett was "very easy to live with" and "knew pretty near everybody around here."
Several relatives returned to Melrose shortly after the tragedy.
Johnnie was at a loss when asked what he'd do next.
"I don't know what I'm doing yet, I don't know whether to move back to PEI or not. I just don't know," he said.
The RCMP investigation into the fire is continuing.
