A family who performed hours of volunteer work during the fire on the Conception Bay North Shore despite losing their own home, is seeing some of that kindness reciprocated, albeit in a highly unusual way.

Robyn Dwyer and her husband Scott moved back to Blackhead after being evacuated during a wildfire in High Level, Alberta, back in 2019.

Their second home was one of more than 100 destroyed when fire roared through nine communities on the Conception Bay North Shore in August.

Dwyer says among the few items that were salvaged from the remains of their property was a blue Le Creuset pot, purchased years ago. The high-end cookware is pricey, and Dwyer had collected a few pieces over the years when she found them on sale.

She says the blue pot was instantly recognizable in the charred remains of what was once their home.

“We pulled into the driveway and my husband said ‘what’s that blue thing?’ in the pile of rubble, and this turned out to be one of those pieces. Over time, as we went through it, and as Team Rubicon went through it, more of these pieces started to come out of the rubble. So we got the majority of the pieces that we had, now keeping in mind, I’m leery on using it, because there’s still some residue that won’t come off.”

As the family got settled into a rental property in Carbonear, she decided to contact Le Creuset in France to see if there was a way to restore the pot. She was shocked by the response she received.

She says she wasn’t expecting much more than a cost on fixing the pot, but “I got this e-mail basically saying ‘we’re going to replace the pot free of charge,’ and then (from) what they could pick out of the pictures, they sent me a coupon for 50 per cent off the retail price.” She says “that was beyond amazing.”