‘He has nothing left,’ says brother of man who lost wife and kids in Oshawa fire

Vivian Bresca, centre, along with her 12-year-old daughter Sigalit, left, and nine-year-old daughter Ayelet are pictured in this undated photo. The three died following a March 12 fire in Oshawa. (Supplied)

Josef Bresca had everything he wanted in life – a wife and two children he loved in a happy home, his brother said.

Then a tragedy hit and in the blink of an eye, he lost it all.

“He is devastated,” Daniel Bresca said in an interview Tuesday, nearly a week after a deadly fire tore through his brother’s home in Oshawa, Ont.

“Just imagine not having them and having nothing.”

Josef’s wife Vivi Bresca, 46, and their two daughters, nine-year-old Ayelet and 12-year-old Sigalit, died after the fire on McGrigor Street last Wednesday.

First responders rushed to the scene just after 8 a.m., where they found the house in flames, police said.

They found Josef, who had sustained injuries when he tried to save his family, outside before removing his wife and children from the burning home.

Vivi and Ayelet were pronounced dead at the hospital soon after they were taken there, and Sigalit died on Monday from injuries sustained in the fire.

Daniel Bresca said Josef is physically stable at the hospital where he is being treated, but he is emotionally devastated.

He said he is trying to find reasons for his 56-year-old brother to continue to live.

“He has nothing left, like no reason to go on … I got to find something. We have to find a way that makes him want to go on,” he said.

Bresca described his brother as a family man who would do anything for his loved ones. He said Josef’s wife had a mobility issue so he had to help out with the children in addition to his job at a vehicle body shop.

“He used to drive the girls to school and drive them back and then go (to) work,” he said. “All he cared about was his family.”

On the morning of the fire, Bresca said Josef was asleep on the couch downstairs because he didn’t want to wake up the family when he left for work.

“He woke up, my brother, and he looked up and the ceiling was on fire and the whole room was full of smoke,” Bresca said, relaying what Josef told him after he woke up from a three-day coma.

“The room was full of smoke and he tried to run upstairs to get them. That’s when he got injured,” he said, noting that Josef had burns on his left side and his back.

Josef ran outside after the failed attempt to go upstairs and called for help, Bresca said, adding that he was with his son when officers arrived at his door to tell him what had happened.

Durham Regional Police said Monday the investigation into the cause of the fire continues but there are no signs of foul play.

Bresca said there is nothing left in his brother’s life to rebuild and he needs to help him “start a new life” from scratch.

A GoFundMe page has raised over $17,000 for the family to cover funeral and other expenses.

Bresca said his nieces were “amazing” and “very gentle” kids. He remembered his sister-in-law as a “kind-hearted” religious woman and a role model “above everything.”

He said the family wasn’t very well-off financially but they were rich when it came to love.

“Lots of love between him and his wife, the kids... She’s loved him so much and he loved (her) so much.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 18, 2025.

Sharif Hassan, The Canadian Press