2 homes destroyed, 4 damaged in Okotoks fire

Firefighters in Okotoks battled a fire for nearly three hours Sunday evening that impacted six homes.

Emergency crews responded around 4:18 p.m. to a fire that had enveloped two homes on Sheep River Place.

At 7 p.m., RCMP said the fire had been extinguished, but two homes had burned down.

Four other homes were damaged by the fire — one on each side of the initial homes and two directly behind. 

No injuries were reported, with RCMP saying that the initial two homes affected by the blaze were unoccupied.

The Okotoks Fire Department told CTV News on Monday that they later discovered a mother and her son were inside the home where the fire originated and managed to get out, but their pet dog did not survive.

The resident of the other home was out of town at the time.

Capt. Geoff Scott with Okotoks Fire told CTV News that one engine initially responded as another crew was responding to a call south of the town.

"As we arrived on scene, we could see a lot of smoke and fire coming out of the initial house," Scott said. "Our members got out and got some lines on it right away."

According to Scott, flames reached the second home within two to three minutes of firefighters arriving. Five minutes later, that home was fully engulfed.

"It was definitely a defensive fire operation from the get-go," he added. "Lots of flame. It was getting really whipped up by the wind."

Rick Bozak has been a resident in the neighbourhood for 28 years and describes the street as “quiet.”

“We’ve never had anything like this happen, not this terrible,” he told CTV News.

“Everybody knows everybody and everybody gets along so well. It’s very sad for the families that just lost their houses.”

Bozak lives a few doors down from where the fire started and said he was worried it would spread to his home.

“We were actually watching it and we were helping. Like, I opened up my gates from the back to the front so the police and firemen could come through instead of going all the way around the back alley,” he said.

Bozak added that the community is there to help the families that have lost everything.

“We’ll get together and help them so much it isn’t even funny. Whatever they need, they’ll get from us. We’ll help them out as much as we can.” 

Investigators do not believe the fire to be suspicious at this time.

Okotoks is approximately 18 kilometres south of Calgary.