Home alone at the time, Todd Barkman, 19, was in the basement of his house with his headphones on when he heard voices from upstairs.
“I heard somebody come in and I just heard a lot of commotion,” he said.
At first, he thought it might be his brother, who has a tendency to be loud.
“Then I came upstairs because the voices sounded really strange. They were gone. I think they thought the house was maybe empty and that's when I opened the door (to the garage) and saw the fire.”
Todd credits the person who was driving by his home at 12 Park Lane just before 3:30 p.m. on July 1 with alerting him to the blaze that would ultimately consume most of his house, giving him time to escape uninjured.
Standing on a neighbour's driveway across the street in his socks alongside other members of his family, Todd watched members of the Olds, Sundre and Didsbury fire departments battle the blaze.
In his arms, he held his family's small, shivering Yorkshire terrier Kita—who was rescued from the house by the passerby who alerted Todd to the fire.
“You never imagine your house being the one that burns down,” he said, adding he was in “shock.”
His father and mother, Rick and A.J., were returning from Red Deer when the fire broke out and received a phone call from Todd about the blaze when they were just north of Olds.
He watched the inferno, surrounded by family, neighbours and friends, in a state of calm numbness and said he expected the “aftershock” to hit later.
“I guess we've had lots of stuff happening in our life in the last year,” he said. “It's just kind of one of those things that happens.”
The Barkman family, which includes Todd's twin brother, his 21-year-old sister and 23-year-old brother, built the house in 1999.
Rick and Todd said they believe the fire started in the garage.
Todd said when he first saw smoke on the main floor of the home, he opened the door to the garage and was met with a “back draft” of flame.
But with no vehicles— a black Jeep destroyed by the fire was parked in the driveway beside a small cargo trailer— or flammables in the garage, Rick said he wasn't sure how the blaze ignited.
“I can't figure out what (started it),” he said.
Thick smoke billowing from the house and drifting northwest brought out hundreds of spectators in the neighbourhood who watched firefighters assault the blaze with ground hoses and an aerial truck, which had been set up at Centennial Park for Canada Day festivities.
Shortly after firefighters arrived, large tongues of flame were visible shooting from the home's roof and before long, most of the top part of the home above the garage had collapsed.
It was close to 5 p.m. before the last of the flames were extinguished.
Chief Lorne Thompson of the Olds Fire Department said the investigation into the cause of the fire would likely begin on July 2 since crews were still putting out hotspots well into the evening.
Although he wouldn't speculate on a cause, he said the fire could have started in the garage, like the Barkmans said.
“We are looking at the garage area at this time.”
Having the Didsbury and Sundre fire departments provide extra manpower was extremely beneficial, he added, especially since firefighters had to contend with the heat of the blaze on a day where the mercury soared to the high 20s.
“It's so warm, spelling off the firefighters is important. If you don't watch them carefully, they can get heat stroke, heat exhaustion.”
No one was injured.
Despite the large crowds that gathered, Thompson said spectators quickly complied when emergency crews asked them to clear the streets for emergency vehicles.
“The public was really good on this,” he said. “They cooperated quickly and it allowed our engines to come in and be where they needed to be without obstructions.”
Bystanders and neighbours also brought refreshments to firefighters and the Barkman family and one man offered up his pickup truck to the Olds department for the removal of equipment from the scene.
Once the fire was under control, firefighters started bringing out some of the family's undamaged possessions including musical instruments, firearms, computers and jewelry.
At one point, a firefighter came out of the house with some of A.J.'s jewelry including a wedding ring prompting an emotional scene where A.J. hugged the firefighter and her friends and neighbours cheered.
Thompson said it's “standard protocol” for firefighters to remove or stow away irreplaceable items once its safe.
“Once the fire is in a state that it's safe, we'll send it teams just for salvage. They'll go in looking for jewelry, the jewelry cabinet, the wedding pictures, the pictures on the wall, the photo albums.”
Rick said the family will likely stay with friends in the short term.
