A couple of large-scale blazes in late spring certainly kept our news and local fire department busy and community residents talking.

Inspector Jeff Avery with Cochrane Fire Services, says the fire that occurred in the community of Fireside was one for the books and, perhaps, one of the worst in Cochrane's history.

In the early morning hours of June 6th, residents were awakened by a large boom preceding orange flames filling the sky that destroyed six unoccupied townhomes, significantly damaging eleven adjacent homes, as well as, scorching numerous vehicles parked along Fireside Way. "The Fireside fire was the biggest fire we had. It affected a whole city block, a lot of people were out of their homes for a long time, and it was a big dollar loss fire."

Many scorched vehicles were seen parked on the roadway.

The blaze at its peak saw eighteen firefighters and three chief officers on site, with back up support coming from Rocky View County and an aerial unit from the City of Calgary. Remaining on site for a good couple of days tending to hot spots, Cochrane Fire Services along with members from the RCMP would spend close to two weeks as they slowly and thoroughly investigated the cause. "The unfortunate thing is that it was a suspicious fire and the file is and will remain open. Hopefully one day we get some more leads and catch the person that did it."

Crews were debriefed after the fire, and fortunately, no lives were lost in the massive blaze however one firefighter was injured, shares Avery. "One that big is certainly a good learning tool, and we did have some debriefing when we came back. We did have an injured firefighter, but he has made a 100% full recovery on all his wounds, so definitely it was a good teaching fire, and hopefully, we never have to battle one that big again, but that is why we are working."

The second fire which had many residents concerned about possible evacuation orders was a wildfire on May 23rd which broke out on the southwest boundary of Cochrane across the river from the West Pointe neighbourhood in the mid-afternoon. Cochrane and Rocky View crews responded rapidly to the report of a grass fire on Stoney Nakoda Nation land, and thankfully a westward wind would keep the fire at bay and away from the town's boundary. Listed at one point as being out of control, the blaze affected 15 hectares of land and required a rapid succession of buckets of water to be dropped by numerous helicopters while a fixed-wing air tanker dropped fire retardant to hold the blaze. 

Fire retardant was dropped by an overhead air tanker

Inspector Avery, says once again the department was happy to report no fatalities or injuries came from the massive fire. "The big bush fire was suspicious as well, but it was only trees and grass that burned. It was an expensive fire with having to bring in water bombers and multiple resources, but at the end of the day, the dollar loss wasn't huge. We were really lucky that there wasn't a big wind that day, like the ones we see, because it could have done a lot of damage to some homes."

While rumoured chatter surfaced that the wildfire was started by youth, Avery says nothing was ever officially reported. "We had no reports of anybody starting that one. We kind of saw where it started but couldn't find anything as to how it started but that one will always be suspicious as well and we think it was deliberate."

Avery, says moving into 2019, he will continue with his monthly public safety messages in hopes to keep our community educated and fire safe.