A large country manor, located between Cochrane and Calgary, was decimated by a Friday evening fire and investigators continue to search for the cause of the blaze.
Shortly after 7:00 p.m., fire crews from Rocky View County responded to a home near the intersection of Township Road 262 and Glendale Road, approximately three kilometres north of Highway 1A following reports of an explosion.
Firefighters encountered a home fully engulfed in flames and a burning debris field roughly 30 metres around the exterior of the building.
“Once fire crews arrived on scene, the roof was completely gone from the building and crews immediately started to extinguish the fire,” said Rocky View County Fire Chief Dax Huba.
Firefighters and firefighting apparatus from Bearspaw, Cochrane, Springbank, and Balzac transported water to the scene and assisted in the effort to control the fire.
Crews fought the blaze throughout the evening and into the early morning hours, but the home was lost.
“The biggest challenge with a lot of these houses is they’re quite large homes and when a roof catches fire, it’s hard to get out if you’re working underneath it,” explained Huba. “To apply sufficient water to a roof is quite tough. Fire can get underneath the roof and get inside the walls, go in to the walls, and it’s hard to get out.”
The owners of the home have been accounted for and there have been no reported injuries to human or animal life.
Huba says the home is a total loss and damaged beyond repair. Investigators are expected to conduct a search through the debris this weekend in an attempt to determine the cause of the fire.
