Four people were left homeless when fire destroyed a home near Hoadley early on Monday.
Rimbey fire chief John Weisgerber said they were called about 2 a.m. to the fire at a rural property about six km southeast of Hoadley, which is about 25 km northwest of Rimbey.
“It was fully involved when we arrived,” said Weisgerber.
A couple and their two adult children were in the home at the time of the fire but escaped. At least one person was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.
The father spotted the fire after he woke up with a sore back.
“He woke up and heard something. He went out and looked and the house was on fire,” he said.
The fire appears to have started in a garage next to the one-storey home.
Firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading to a nearby mobile home and outbuildings, but couldn’t save the home.
“The house was pretty much a write-off,” he said, estimating damage at around $400,000.
Nine Rimbey volunteer firefighters and their trucks and an extra tanker truck from Ponoka County were called in to battle the blaze. Firefighters left at about 8 a.m., he said.