Jacqueline McGregor-Einboden holds daughter Kendra after losing her other daughter and her husband in a house fire. (Mark O'Neill, QMI Agency)

TORONTO - Last weekend, Jacqueline McGregor-Einboden was a happily married mother of two.

But she now suddenly finds herself newly widowed, a single mom raising a baby on her own, due to a house fire that killed both her husband, Ken Einboden, and their eldest daughter, Britney, 12.

Five days after the deadly blaze, the distraught Weston woman spoke publicly for the first time about the heartache she has endured since coming home last Sunday to find her home charred by fire, the love of her life dead, and her eldest child on death's door.

"It's hard, you know, I just think of Britney's last smile ... and giving Ken a kiss goodbye when I left home," McGregor-Einboden said Thursday in front of her gutted house on Kemp Square.

"And then coming home and Ken's not here, and seeing Britney over there on the grass, somebody trying to save her life," the distraught woman said, pointing to a neighbour's front lawn as she burst into tears.

When the fire erupted shortly before 3 p.m. Sunday, Ken managed to snatch the couple's baby, four-month-old Kendra and get her outside safely. After passing the tot off to a friend, he raced back inside to try to get to Britney, who was trapped upstairs.

But Ken was overcome by the thick black smoke and died before he could save his eldest daughter.

Toronto firefighters pulled Britney's lifeless body from the burning home. She died the next day in hospital while surrounded by family and friends.

McGregor-Einboden said she hasn't slept much since that tragic day.

Her baby daughter Kendra is all she has left, she said.

"Britney was my heart and gold and this is all I have to hang onto for the rest of my life," McGregor-Einboden said, holding Kendra in arms, dressed in clothes donated by strangers.

"This little angel, she was a miracle child," she said.

She will make sure Kendra knows what a brave man her dad was when she's old enough to understand.

"He is a hero," she said.

"Ken did everything he could," she said. "I did everything I could, except ... I told Britney I would do everything for her and I couldn't do nothing for her as she laid there and I waited for her to pass away.

"It's the hardest thing you could ever imagine a mother doing with their child," she said as she broke into tears.

The tragedy unleashed an outpouring of generosity from people across the city. "Thank you, that's all I can say," McGregor-Einboden said.

"The GTA has a heart of gold," said Norine Webster, one of her two sisters on hand for support.

The help is needed. McGregor-Einboden is currently on maternity leave and her husband was laid off from his job as a machinist last year and his EI recently ran out. Making matters worse, the couple had no contents insurance for their rented home and only a small death benefit that will not even cover the cost of one funeral let alone two. A trust fund has now been set up for the mother and her baby.

McGregor-Einboden will say her final goodbyes to her husband and daughter this weekend.

Visitation will be held Friday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Ward Funeral Home on Weston Rd. The funeral is Saturday at Central United Church on Weston Rd.

chris.doucette@sunmedia.ca