A rare structure fire west of Sundre caused by a lightning strike prompted a major coordinated effort to extinguish the blaze at a mobile home.
“I’ve been to three in 26 years,” said Kevin Gamble, Sundre’s deputy fire chief, when asked how common such calls are. “It’s not an everyday occurrence.”
On Sunday, June 23, a bolt of lightning reportedly hit the residence in the McDougal Flats area, setting the roof on fire. Crews and apparatus were dispatched from the fire departments in Sundre, Olds, Didsbury and Cremona, he said.
“We had a great turnout,” he said.
“Everybody responded amazingly. We all stood together and got done what had to be done.
Several regional fire departments — Olds, Didsbury, and Cremona — responded to the Sundre department’s call for mutual aid. Photo courtesy of Kayne Suitor Facebook
The blaze was put out in the span of about an hour, with the fire largely contained to the roof and ceiling. However, some of the volunteer firefighters remained at the scene a while longer to help clear out the structure and recover what could be salvaged, including a few toys from a child’s room.
What could be saved was hauled out from the house into a trailer that was brought on the scene by a Good Samaritan, he said.
“It was amazing how well the community pulled together.”
While the home’s roof sustained a substantial amount of damage and the occupants, who were not home at the time, had to find alternate accommodations, firefighters were nevertheless able to save most of the structure. However, the situation could easily have been far worse had it not been for all of the mutual aid that responded, he said.
Although some items were salvaged, the fire caused considerable damage to the home’s interior. A GoFundMe campaign has been set up by a friend of the family to not only help replace some of the lost possessions, but to also provide funding to find another place to rent. Photo courtesy of Kayne Suitor Facebook
Some resources that were deployed ended up not being required in the end, yet having them at the ready was better than needing them but not having them, he said.
Sundre’s fire department has responded to a few outbuilding structure fires over the past few months such as for example storage sheds, but there have not been many recent instances of house fires, he said.
A GoFundMe campaign organized by Sydney Cummings, a friend of the affected family, with a goal of $5,000 had already reached $4,650 as of Tuesday, June 25.
“I am wanting to raise some money for this great little family so they can start replacing everything they’ve lost (furniture, electronics, clothing, toys, etc.), as well as funds for a new home to rent,” reads Cummings’ campaign.
Kayne Suitor, who was renting the property and resided there with his son Swayer as well as Kelly Neilon, shared his story publicly on social media, and expressed his appreciation for how the community rallied to provide help.
“We are so grateful to the Sundre Fire Department for their hard work and kindness,” wrote Suitor the day after the fire.
“This experience has been devastating, but the outpour of support from our family, friends and community has held us together…at this moment, we are still coming out of the shock of what has happened and don’t know where to begin. We lost a lot of things yesterday, but are blessed to still have our family.”
The blaze took the better part of an hour to put out and some volunteer firefighters stayed on scene after to help clear out the damaged house. Photo courtesy of Kayne Suitor Facebook
