Two people were found dead in a burned out home in the town of Vulcan on Monday and fire investigators are working to officially confirm their identities and determine a cause.

Emergency crews were called to a home near Centre Street between 3 and 5 Avenues at about 7:00 a.m.

Firefighters knocked down the blaze at the single-family home and located the remains of two people in the debris.

Tom Grant is the mayor of Vulcan and a member of the fire department and says he could smell and see the smoke from the fire when he arrived at the scene.

“The house was fully involved, it had already breached the roof and so the house is completely engulfed in smoke and flames,” he said.

At this point, RCMP are not releasing any more information about the investigation and autopsies on the bodies are expected to be conducted on Tuesday.

“I wouldn’t say that we believe there’s something suspicious going on, unfortunately we have two people that are not accounted for and we don’t have the identities of the two persons that were inside at this point so the means of the autopsy really is to provide two things; whether or not there’s any suspicion in it and number two, the identity of the people that were found inside,” said RCMP Cpl. Sharon Franks.

Police say they are speaking to neighbours and relatives of the homeowners.

“Well it’s a difficult situation because, in fact, we haven’t been able to locate them. There are two people who were found inside and at this point we still need to have an identity of those two people so it is not an easy situation,” said Franks.

Neighbours say one of the deceased is Karen Currie, a well-known lawyer in Vulcan, and say that the second individual is likely her partner Rob Farrow.

Lavonda Justinick was a friend of Karen’s and says she was smart, down to earth, very caring and will be missed.

“I was pretty shocked yeah, she’s been renting from me for a year here and she started a new law practice and she was doing very well and looking forward to her new future and it’s devastating for the community,” she said. “She was very active in the community and I know she helped me out a lot.”

Donna Heron and Kerri Rombough have been Karen’s neighbours for a few years and say they are shocked by what’s happened.

“Great neighbour, always kind,” said Rombough.

“She was a good neighbour, she was a good friend. When you asked her something if she could help she was there. It’s definitely going to have an impact on the community because so many people knew her and she was so well respected,“ said Heron.

They say Rob was also kind and that he often helped them to repair things around their home.

“He was quite the handyman and of course, mom and me living on our own without a man around, he would help us quite often with stuff around the house,” said Rombough.

A note on the door of Currie's law office says "This office is Closed! Rest in Peace Karen my Dear Friend" and a make-shift memorial has taken shape near the scene.

“There’s a lot of speculation among the town’s folks by the sounds of things and if people have information that they wanted to provide the police that would assist with this investigation or they know something, then I would encourage them to call the Vulcan RCMP to relay that information to them,” said Franks.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation and the home remains cordoned off.

Vulcan is located about 128 km southeast of Calgary.