3 dead after house fire on Siksika First Nation
Siksika Fire Chief says home didn't have working smoke detectors
A fire that destroyed a home on the Siksika First Nation Saturday morning, killing three people, does not appear suspicious, fire investigators say.
Gleichen RCMP were called to the reserve east of Calgary to assist Siksika and Cluny fire departments around 7:30 a.m. local time.
"It's completely gutted. There's a lot of charring, everything is pretty much burnt," said firefighter Scott Ambrosi. "Everything still standing is just metal, it got very hot, very quickly."
Siksika Fire Chief Tom Littlechild said two 28-year-old men and a 25-year-old woman were found dead in bedrooms inside the home. The three people are believed to have died of smoke inhalation, although autopsies are scheduled for next week to confirm.
Fire investigators said Saturday afternoon that preliminary examination suggests the fire started inside the house and is not suspicious. The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation.
RCMP are working on notifying the next of kin. Littlechild said several cars full of community members and some family showed up earlier to look at the scene.
"Siksika Nation is a very tight-knit community, the floods of 2013 brought us even closer together so when something like this happens, word gets out, people just want to come and have a look sometimes just for closure or whatever the case may be," Littlechild said.
Siksika has a full service fire department located just four kilometres from the home. Littlechild said time and resources were not issues in this incident.
Littlechild said "the takeaway message" from the tragedy is to make sure your home has working smoke detectors, as this home had none.
