Irricana community comes together to help families who lost homes in weekend blaze

A weekend fire that engulfed two homes saw firefighters flocking to the small town of Irricana, about 65 km northeast of Calgary.

A fire tore through two homes in Irricana, Alta., on Saturday morning, displacing two families.

Beth Whymark’s dog started barking.

Whymark would eventually get up and discover the blaze across from her home.

“That’s pretty scary, when you live across the street and you hear (about) the fires in California and all that, how fast it goes. You worry,” she said.

“It looked like flames shooting out of the house.”

She called 911 immediately.

Greg Simpson, who also lives across the street, was woken up by his mother-in-law when she caught sight of the fire.

“The fence all the way to the house was on fire. It just spread from there. It just engulfed both houses,” he said.

His worry now is for his neighbours.

“It’s life-changing. You lose everything, right?” he said.

“Everything you’ve collected for your entire life, and now you’re back down to basics, starting over.”

A total of 30 firefighters from Airdire, Balzac, Crossfield and Irricana responded to the scene, containing the fire within three hours.

Both of the families were able to escape the blaze safely; however, one pet is still unaccounted for.

“Time is always the issue because we have long distances (to travel),” said Bill Wohl, Rocky View County Fire Services battalion captain.

“Crews managed to keep all damage contained to just the two structures of origin, and everything else was protected.”

Wohl estimates damages between the two homes to be $900,000.

The town has come together through several initiatives, including a GoFundMe to help the families.

Two of the people belonged to the KIK Senior Club, which has members in communities across southern and central Alberta.

It is collecting funds for them.

“Literally everything but the shirt they were wearing out of the house has to be replaced, and that’s an enormous burden on anybody,” said James Den Beste, KIK treasurer.

“Getting rid of every bit of financial burden we can, we hope, will help them.”

The cause of the fire is still being investigated.