A local family of four is looking for a new a place to live after a basement fire on Jan. 1 left them without a roof over their heads to begin the new year.
Nicole Lyon and her three children were at home in their ‘Lyon’s den’ enjoying a fire and watching some movies around 11 p.m. when her 19-year-old son woke up to the smell of smoke in his room.
Earlier that evening her son had turned down an invitation from a friend to go out for the night, but told him to call back in 15 minutes. Afraid he’d fall asleep, he set an alarm on his phone and sure enough fell asleep.
Fifteen minutes later when his alarm went off, he woke up to the smell of smoke in his room and went upstairs to tell his family. A quick glance out the front window, however, quickly confirmed something was amiss after he saw orange flames flickering in the snow outside.
Shocked by what they saw, the family immediately ran downstairs and saw open flames coming from the other side of his bedroom wall, where unbeknownst to them an old fireplace that was covered with drywall and collecting ash from upstairs, was now on fire.
With flames spreading rapidly, Lyon and her three children quickly grabbed one of their cats and their family dog and ran outside, leaving behind two cats firefighters would later try to unsuccessfully resuscitate.
“I couldn’t find them so we grabbed our other cat and dog and ran outside,” said Lyon, whose children are 12, 16 and 19 years of age.
“I didn’t even realize I was barefoot.”
Once the family was safely outside, Lyon called 911 and within four-and-a-half minutes a command vehicle with the Banff Fire Department was on scene, according to Banff Fire Chief Silvio Adamo.
Within nine minutes the first fire truck arrived with six firefighters on board and 18 minutes after that firefighters were able to knock down the fire. But by that time, enough smoke had already wafted through the rest of the house to cause extensive damage to the family’s furniture, appliances and clothing.
“Downstairs is completely fried and upstairs is charred,” said Lyon. “You can’t tell what some things are.”
For the time being, the family, which has lived in Banff for 17 years, is staying with friends and a Gofundme campaign was recently launched to help them cover some of their costs.
“The community has been amazing in terms of coming together and trying to help us find housing,” said Lyon. “I’ve just had amazing support, I can’t even express it, it’s been overwhelming.”
Despite losing their home and the majority of their possessions, she said they are trying to remain positive.
“We’re all healthy and we’re safe and we’re lucky we live in this community and we have friends that took us in. Some people don’t have that, so we’re very grateful,” said Lyon.
According to the fire chief, three fire trucks and 20 firefighters, along with EMS and RCMP, responded to the structure fire at 212 St. Julien Rd.
Upon arrival firefighters had to use forcible entry to attack the fire, which started in an old masonry fireplace hidden behind drywall in an office area inaccessible to the family.
According to Adamo, it appears an ember from the fireplace upstairs fell down a masonry ash dump, igniting ash that had built up for years downstairs in an old fireplace.
“We don’t have a good idea when it was framed out downstairs, but when it was finished in the basement they finished over the access to the ash dump and so eventually the ash built up and built up,” said Adamo, adding firefighters recovered seven large garbage bags of ash from the ash dump after the fire had been extinguished.
He said neither the Lyon family nor the homeowner were aware there was a fireplace behind the wall.
“Structurally, the house is intact, although, depending on what the owner wants to do in working with his insurance company, the whole lower level needs to be stripped right down to the drywall studs again and upstairs needs to be cleaned,” said Adamo, adding the Lyon family did not have contents insurance to cover the loss of their property.
He stressed the family was extremely lucky given there were no working smoke alarms in the house, although Lyon said she had recently replaced the battery in one of the alarms.
“Had this been a little later in the evening or early morning the outcome could have been completely different,” said Adamo.
“It’s just a constant reminder to make sure your smoke alarms are functioning properly and that they are testing them regularly. Working smoke alarms save lives.”
To help the Lyon family get back on their feet people can donate money at www.gofundme.com and search “Help Build Another Lyons Den.”
