Gary Cheeseman, the in-resident caretaker of the Harbour Inn Condo complex in Elbow, was fast asleep in Unit Five when heavy banging on his apartment door awoke him.
A massive fire had engulfed the front units of the complex including his. If it wasn’t for a group of golfers staying in the unit next to his, Cheeseman wouldn’t have made it out alive.
“The guys in (Unit) Four woke me up,” said Cheeseman, who barely made it out before the blaze tore through his apartment. “I stayed around for a little while (afterwards). It was shooting up pretty good.”
Cheeseman only had time to grab his cellphone before escaping into the early morning air wearing just his pyjamas. He lost everything else in the fire including his truck parked outside his apartment.
Elbow fire chief Glen Amor confirmed the fire department first got the call at 2:30 a.m. that the 34-unit complex had caught on fire. He said they could see the flames from their fire hall located about a kilometre away.
“The flames were 40-feet high on the first six units when firefighters got there five minutes after the call,” said Amor. “We’re pretty proud we saved any of it.”
Twelve people were staying at the complex when the fire started last Wednesday morning. Amor confirmed the group consisted of out-of-town hunters and golfers. Cheeseman was the only permanent resident of the complex. All got out alive.
Amor said 25 firefighters from Elbow, Loreburn and Davidson descended on the scene and it took them about four hours to get the fire under control. He said there were also “lots of volunteers” that came to the scene to help the firefighters battle the blaze.
“Some local farmers had semis and water tankers,” he said. “They always come just in case we run out of water and help us out because we can go through water in the fire hydrants very quickly. They’re there to help us out and stand by just in case we need them.”
A few hours after the blaze was controlled smoke still billowed and small fires burned from the 21 units that were razed during the fire. Eleven units remain standing in the 21-year-old box-like complex at 1250 Aaro Avenue that has an outdoor swimming pool and grassy area situated in the middle of the connected-condo building.
Kevin Luchia, a volunteer firefighter with the Elbow detachment, said it is suspected that the fire started in Unit Four before it got up into the rafters. He said the complex “went up like a matchbox” once that happened.
“We never lost anybody and that’s the main thing,” said Luchia. “Once we got them out, we weren’t sending anyone else back in.”
Luchia said the only reason the 11 remaining units are still standing was due to Amor’s decision to get Elbow resident Troy Bramble to cut through the complex with a “big pay-loader” splitting the complex in two. He said the whole building is “filled up with smoke” and wouldn’t be surprised if the remaining units were bulldozed.
“That was my first phone call,” said Amor about bringing in Bramble. “It was part of our pre-plan to know what to do in case this building went up. We knew we wouldn’t have the resources to put this fire out if it was fully engulfed. In row houses, the way that it is particularly built, that’s about the only way you can stop the fuel from the fire and stop it that way.”
Amor said the cause of the fire is yet to be determined and SGI would conduct an investigation to determine the facts around the blaze and whether they are going to insure the building. He said if SGI needs any assistance he would call the provincial Fire Commissioner’s Office to send in an investigator to help.
The long-time firefighter said this blaze is terrible for the community of Elbow as the complex houses about 4,000 visitors to the town each year and is the main hub for people looking for accommodation while they participate in golf, hunting or camping activities in the area.
“Our daughter had a wedding here and we rented the whole complex. Everybody stayed here, so it’s huge for this community,” he said. “When you don’t have that many rooms it’s going to be devastating. To rebuild this, the fire loss is $3 to $4 million to replace this, so it’s going to take a while.”
Cheeseman said everyone in town is helping him to get back on his feet. He said “moving on” is the only thing he can do now and that is what he plans on doing.