journey of healing after losing her young son, mother, and two close friends in a devastating house fire five years ago.
Arija Jansons said the tragedy, which occurred in the early hours of Jan. 29, 2021, completely changed her life. At around 4:30 a.m., a massive electrical fire broke out at her family home on Gainsborough Road, near Gerrard Street East and Coxwell Avenue in Toronto’s east end.
The blaze claimed the lives of Jansons’ seven-year-old son, Kai Dombrovskis, her mother Jana Jansons, and two friends, Amanda Freimanis and Matthew Zdybal.
Recalling the terrifying moments before the fire overtook the home, Jansons said her last memory was seeing her son before losing consciousness.
“My last memory of the fire is looking at Kai. I then woke up in the ICU,” she said in an interview.
Jansons managed to escape from the burning house by climbing out of a second-floor window, but she suffered serious injuries and spent several days in hospital recovering from severe smoke inhalation.
She described the physical trauma she endured in the aftermath of the fire.
“My eyes were sealed shut. I couldn’t see and I had a breathing tube. I lost my voice for almost a month and I didn’t know if I’d ever get it back,” she said.
Investigators from the Office of the Fire Marshal later determined that there were no working smoke alarms inside the house at the time of the blaze.
While Jansons survived physically, she says the emotional scars remain deep. The loss of her son and loved ones left her struggling with overwhelming grief.
“My world went black,” she said, adding that the pain of losing her son remains unbearable.
Now, five years later, Jansons says she is slowly beginning to find moments of light and hope again, sharing her story to raise awareness about fire safety and to encourage others going through grief that healing, though difficult, is possible.