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Wanda and Rob watched more than three decades of family life vanish in smoke and flame.
"We raised three of our girls in that house," Wanda said. "All the bike riding down the drive, basketball in the back…You look at it, and that's gone."
"The fact that we've lost our pets has been very difficult," she added. "And our memories — everything's gone. Like, we have nothing at all."
On May 7, a structure fire tore through the couple's home on Saskatchewan Street in Crossfield, leaving them with no possessions. Their daughter, who was home at the time, was later treated for smoke inhalation.
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"I didn't get my glasses, my phone, my wallet — just lost everything," Rob said. "I got out of there with just the jogging pants that I had on and a pair of shoes."
Fire broke out mid-morning May 7
According to officials, the fire triggered a response from the Town of Crossfield and City of Airdrie fire departments. Alberta Health Services EMS, RCMP, peace officers and town staff were also on scene.
"Several nearby homes were evacuated as a precautionary measure," the Town of Crossfield stated in a written response to Discover Airdrie last week. A temporary evacuation and reception centre was opened at the Crossfield Curling Club.
The fire was extinguished by 3 p.m., officials confirmed. The cause of the fire has not been released. A fire truck remained on site into the evening to monitor the property, with barricades placed around the ruins.
"I couldn't go out the back door"
Wanda said she and her daughter were preparing to leave the house for an appointment when she smelled smoke.
"I just thought it was a forest fire," she said. "I thought I could put it out with my fire blanket. But by the time I got back to my back door, I could not go out."
She fled through the front door, believing she had both dogs, but later realized only one had made it out. Two of the family's cats remain unaccounted for, and Wanda confirmed that they lost two of their cats in the fire.
"I tried to phone 9-1-1, but my hands were not doing what I wanted them to do," she said. "It was big panic."
Rob said he had still been in bed when his wife yelled.
"She screamed at me, 'Rob, we're on fire,'" he said. "I ran out of the hallway and I met up with all this flame and smoke coming in through the door… the kitchen sink window just blowing out from the heat already. It was pretty brutal."
"It seemed like something out of a TV show"
The couple described the scene as surreal — smoke billowing, neighbours gathering, sirens approaching.
"It seemed like something we'd watch on Chicago Fire or something, with all the fire trucks and ambulances coming around," Rob said.
"We just kept screaming, 'You've got to get water on this fire.' We were just so impatient, I guess."
Wanda said the wait felt endless, even if it wasn't.
"It seemed like they took forever to get there too — which I'm sure wasn't," she said. "But it feels like an hour when you're in a panic."
Rob said the family's motorhome, which they had purchased using retirement savings, was also destroyed.
"It's gone too," he said.
Grief, GoFundMe, and a daughter by love
A long-time family friend, Shyanne King, started a GoFundMe campaign in the days after the fire. She said she considers the couple her second parents — and their house, her second home.
"Ever since the first day I walked in that door, nanny and poppy both were like, 'Oh, that's our adopted daughter,'" King said. "They welcomed me when I had nowhere else to go."
She said the fire took everything, including cash the family had been saving for years.
"They literally lost… their wallets… their bank cards… about $4,000 in $100 bills melted that nanny had been putting away saving."
She said she saw the fire from her window.
"I was on the phone with my mom… and I looked out my window, and I knew that that was nanny and poppy's house," she said. "I was physically sick… I dropped to my knees."
"Even the smell of a smoke, like a fire — it puts me off right now."
King said Rob had fled the house without a shirt.
"I live in extra, extra, extra big shirts — so I ran back and got him one," she said. "I would lay my life down for them."
She said the GoFundMe was something she had never done before, but it felt like the only way to help.
"Financial help is one way people can do something right now… because insurance is crazy," she said. "You have to replace things within a certain amount of days."
An open door — and a legacy of generosity
Rob and Wanda's home, across from Crossfield Elementary School, was known in town as a place of shelter and safety. Their children's friends often stayed over when storms hit or when they needed a place to go.
"Their friends used to come and stay here when they had problems at their homes, and we didn't mind," Rob said.
"We had an open door for any of the friends, for sure," Wanda said. "If there was a storm going on, they came to our place… their parents knew they could pick them up there."
That legacy of support is part of what's brought the community back to them.
"The Elks Club, Baptist Church… friends of friends of friends — we've gotten things dropped off at the doors… supper or dinner or whatever," Wanda said.
"It's been quite nice to know that we're supported."
"We love this town," Rob added. "We've been here over 30 years. Our kids all graduated here."
GoFundMe campaign surpasses $5,000
As of May 16, more than $5,000 has been raised through a GoFundMe campaign. The fundraiser had reached $5,035 of its $10,000 goal, with 64 donations.
In the campaign description, King described the couple as "heartbroken and displaced, with nothing but the clothes on their back," adding that the fire had "completely destroyed their home, leaving them without a place to live and many of their belongings, and treasured memorabilia."
She wrote that the family had opened their home to many children over the past 30 years, including herself, and said, "Any donation will be appreciated more than words can express."
What comes next
The couple say they don't know what happens now. They hadn't planned to leave Crossfield, and still aren't sure if they will. They moved into the home in 1993.
"We planned on staying here a while longer, but we don't know what we're going to do next," Wanda said. "It's… yeah, a little unsettling."
"We haven't moved forward yet," she added. "We have a long road."
"Never take anything for granted," she said. "It will be wiped out from underneath your feet in a minute."
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(Editor's note: At the request of the family, only first names are used in this story.)