'They Were Family:' North Bellmore Family Mourns Loss Of Dogs In House Fire

NORTH BELLMORE, NY — Tragedy struck the Matland family on Dec. 1, when a fire tore through their North Bellmore home on Sacco Place. While the blaze destroyed all of their belongings, the most devastating loss was their two young dogs, Peaches and Bruiser, neither even two years old.

Since the fire, the family— Ryan and Jeanne Marie Matland and their five children, all in elementary school— has been living in a rental home, working to make it feel like a home. With the support of friends and community members, they are rebuilding a sense of normalcy, particularly during the holiday season.

The couple said the fire investigation is still ongoing, but they were asked to submit receipts for their LG dryer. There were some discussions about the fire starting in the laundry room, but nothing has been confirmed, the couple said.

"The whole house has smoke damage," Ryan said. "The kitchen floor fell into the basement. The main floor is toast. The basement, forget it. The laundry room, the little hanging room I made– torched. Even the floor."

Reflecting on the damage, the couple said nothing could compare to losing their dogs. Ryan said he had to bring them to the crematorium soon after the fire. Jeanne Marie said they had necklaces made for the children so they could always have a piece of the dogs with them.

"I woke up the next morning, and that was the first thing I did on three hours of sleep," Ryan said. "It's very overwhelming."

They shared that Dec. 15 would have been Bruiser's first birthday, and the dogs both meant so much to the family.

"The dogs were the best," he began. "Bruiser drove us nuts. He was a protector."

"Peaches was the sweetest dog in the world," Ryan said. "The name makes sense. They were just the best dogs. They were basically my oldest daughter's dogs. They followed her around. Bruiser was hers. He would protect her. Peaches clung more to my wife, slept with her in the bed. They were family dogs."

Jeanne Marie added, "Peaches slept with me, and she followed me everywhere. Bruiser followed my oldest daughter. He was attached to her."

The couple described how the tragic night unfolded. Ryan said he was at work, then a winter concert, and the next thing he knew, "We were running to the house. It was pretty surreal."

They left their home around 5 p.m. and arrived at their children's concert in Merrick around 5:30 p.m., hoping for good seats. At about 6:15 p.m., they were both getting calls from their neighbors and family.

"My neighbor, Anthony, called me, and when I saw his call, I thought he was messing with me. I figured the Giants are playing the Patriots. My team stinks, and he's a Bills fan, so I hit ignore. We both were getting calls again, so we answered. I just heard, 'Your house is on fire,' and we both looked at each other and said: 'Go!'"

Jeanne Marie added, "When we saw we were both getting calls, we knew something was wrong. We told them, 'The dogs, they're home. Get the door open. Get the dogs out.' We have a split-level, so they could have been anywhere in the home."

Even with the possibility of losing their house, which Ryan said they worked so hard for, their minds were on something more important: the dogs.

"I don't even remember the drive home," Ryan said.

Jeanne Marie said they left the kids with her cousin and raced home. She said it usually takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get home from that location, but they breezed home:

"We were home in a matter of six minutes," she said.

Describing the scene, they both said it was horrific.

"When we got there, there was smoke everywhere," Ryan said. "The streets were flooded."

Jeanne Marie added that the smoke made its way to blocks before theirs.

"It was like this fog that was just covering it all," she said.

As they ran over to their house, their dogs were the top priority.

"Both of us just kept shouting, 'Get my dogs!'" Ryan said. "I wanted to kick the door down. I wanted to get my dogs."

They brought one of the dogs out, and Jeanne Marie said she and her brother tried to do CPR on Peaches and give her oxygen.

"But we couldn't revive her," she said through tears. "I knew if she came out and wasn't alive, the second one would be gone, too. They were family. We even had a wedding for one of the dogs of the summer and invited all the neighborhood kids. They were just so young, too."

It was horrible to watch, Ryan said.

"They brought Bruiser out on his dog bed," he said. "And my wife was blowing in Peaches' mouth, and my brother-in-law, too. The dog died right there. We lost our dogs. My kids lost their dogs that night."

After the firemen brought the dogs out and they knew there wasn't anything more they could do, Ryan said he had to switch his thinking to his children.

"My brain went into child protection mode," he said. "Once I knew the dogs passed, I knew I was going to have to run and grab the kids and bring them to where they were going to stay. I just wanted to get them to my brother-in-law's place. I knew all they were going to ask me about were the dogs, which was very hard, because I knew in that moment I wouldn't be able to tell them yet."

He said he wanted to tell their five children when the time was right– when he and his wife could sit them down and tell them together. Once they were settled in Jeanne Marie's brother's home, they were able to tell the children.

"It was hard," he said. "Like arrows."

Peaches and Bruiser's legacy lives on in their puppies. Just nine weeks ago, in late September, Peaches gave birth to two puppies, who are safe and were taken by Ryan's best friend upstate a week before the fire.

"Peaches gave birth in my home," he said. "My wife did the birthing. I'm so thankful they took the puppies when they did."

Jeanne Marie said she was grateful the puppies weren't home, too.

"The female puppy, Sadie, is just like her father, Bruiser, and Simba, who's the male puppy, is just like my Peaches."

Ryan shared how surreal it all feels.

"We go in the woods every year upstate, and we cut down a tree," he said. "We put it on the car, drove it home, and decorated the whole house. Two days later, this happened. It's just so crazy. I was looking through my phone at photos of me putting up the tree, the concert photos, and then the next photos are me outside my house with firemen barreling in."

Reflecting on the uncertainty ahead, Ryan said he is trying to trust that things will work out.

"A part of me is trying to let go and let it happen because it's not in my control," he said. "The world's a good place, and it's going to work out."

Ryan shared that they considered the possibility of knocking the house down and starting over, but Ryan doesn't want to lose their traditions, including photos by their main stairwell.

"Every photo we've ever taken was on that stairwell in the main level when you walk in," I want my kids to go to prom and take those same photos."

He said you don't realize the belongings that are important to you until they are gone. Ryan said he hopes he can dig through his house soon and find some items that can be salvaged.

"I would love to put a helmet lamp on and walk into that house with the dirtiest clothes and gloves. I want to get that moment."

Jeanne Marie said her priority for her family is to get a sense of normalcy since they are staying in a house temporarily until their home is restored and they can return.

"We just really need to get through the week," she said. "My friends and family helped make this home feel cozy, and our biggest priority is just getting back to our routine. My kids are doing the best that they can, given the circumstances."

As the holidays approach, Ryan said the family is leaning on the strength of their Bellmore friends.

"The holidays are hanging over our heads," he said. "But the community is amazing. We live in the best area in the whole world. People are definitely holding us up. We had chaos before this happened with five kids, so we're going to figure it out. I'm a doer. I'm going to figure it out. I'm going to do what I need to make sure we get through this. I'm a survivor. We just need to get through the holidays."

It is the community that has helped them piece things back together slowly.

"I think that the most beautiful piece of something so horrific is that the community is stepping up in ways I couldn't even ask," Jeanne Marie said. "On the day we signed the lease, my coworkers came to the house and filled it with pictures printed of my family, pillows with my dogs on them, stockings with our names on them, bedding and pillows and area rugs, and garbage cans for the bathroom and toilet paper. They stocked the fridge with our favorite snacks."

She continued, sharing how much she appreciates all of the support her family has received during this tragic time in their lives.

"Teachers and support staff at our children's school took my children in," she said. "They took them to Dave and Busters and on outings. They're trying to give them time and opportunities just to be kids. Lowe's donated a Christmas tree to us. The community is just showing up for us. My daughters got their stashesf or Girl Scouts stashes replaced, and my son's Little League Trophy got replaced. Teachers put money on my kids' food account. They got them backpacks and replaced laptops. It's all of these little things. I'm blown away by the level of mindfulness of everyone chipping in. When you lose everything, you don't want to seem selfish. It just becomes overwhelming. We needed everything from socks, underwear, shoes, toothpaste, and scissors. The community has just done such beautiful things to help us through this really horrific time."

A GoFundMe has been set up to support the family, with more than $75k raised in donations.