CANMORE – A family who lost their home to a fire last week attributes a quick thinking neighbour for calling 911 and a Canmore firefighter for waking them up on his way to the fire station for saving their lives.
Kerri and Leslee Bossert and their two young children were in their 3rd Street home when the fire broke out in the early morning hours of Friday (Feb. 25). They woke to firefighter Brad Johnson ringing the doorbell.
“Thank you to whoever called 911 for us – we don’t even know which neighbour it was. Most of all we are grateful to the firefighter who rang our doorbell before he went to the fire station to wake us up,” said Kerri.
“Those two people totally saved us. Thanks to them we got out easily before the fire took off.”
Firefighters were called to the scene shortly before 3:30 a.m.
“On the way there, dispatch was able to confirm the four occupants in the house were out and that they were all safe,” said Keri Martens, acting fire chief for Canmore Fire-Rescue.
When firefighters arrived, Martens said flames and smoke were visible on the exterior of the home in the chimney area.
“The roof of the structure was lost. When the flames came out of the chimney box area it was close to the roofline and so flames got up into the roof and burned through the whole roof,” she said.
“There’s significant water damage. The walls were intact, but the roof was completely lost, through the burn or collapse.”
Exshaw and Banff fire departments were also called out to help fight the fire.
In total, there were 12 Canmore firefighters, four from Exshaw and six from Banff.
“From 3:30 a.m. until about 10:30 a.m., we had crews on scene and our investigator on scene for a little while after that,” said Martens.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
“We believe we know, but it is still under investigation. The file hasn’t been closed on that,” said Martens.
Brad Johnson, who lives in the general vicinity, was the firefighter who knocked on the door to wake the sleeping family.
“On his way to the hall he did go by there just to get an initial idea of what was going on and noticed that the occupants were not out of the house,” said Martens.
“He did ring their doorbell to make sure they were aware.”
If not for that, it may have been a different outcome.
Because of the nature of the fire and where it started and burned, smoke detectors did not go off.
“It’s always unfortunate when a structure is lost. It’s their home,” said Martens.
“On the upside, though, there were no injuries to the homeowners and there were no injuries to any of our response personnel so we’re grateful for that as well.”
The Bossert family is also sending a big thank you to the Roundhouse Daycare, which has been amazing at providing extra childcare and support.
“Our awesome friends and Canmore and Banff hospital staff has been amazing helping us out, with some other unexpected generous support from the community,” said Kerri.
“But we don’t really need anything else right now, our basics are covered and we just are on the hunt for an interim place to live.”
A GoFundMe account has been started for the Bossert family, with a goal of raising $12,000.
“One of our community families is down and needs a hand up,” states the website.
“Both moms in this amazing family have work on the front line of COVID and are quick to help anyone in need.”
