The community is rallying to support a local business owner after a fire damaged his Carstairs Liquidauction shop on Friday night.
A friend of the owner and business neighbour, Carstairs resident Mike Lorber, initially spotted smoke that evening.
"My wife and I happened to be in our shop around 7 p.m. [Friday] night, and I was doing a little work on my computer. My wife looked outside and noticed some smoke," Lorber said. "We both left our shop to look at our friend's shop, [which] essentially had smoke rolling out of it, out of the eavesdrops and out of the windows."
Lorber called 9-1-1 and contacted his friend Al, the shop's owner.
"... Because he lives all the way in Airdrie, I knew it would be time for him to get into town. Then I checked upstairs, where someone lives in the building where we're located. Luckily, nobody was around. By that time, the fire department and EMS arrived."
Josh Van Arnam with the Carstairs Fire Department said that when fire crews arrived, smoke was visible, but no flames were seen on the building's exterior.
"Our first incoming engine attacked the interior of the structure, and they found a little bit of flame and a lot of smoke near the back of the building. They were able to get it extinguished pretty quickly."
He added that the fire didn’t extend to the neighbouring businesses.
"[The] Didsbury [Fire Department] assisted on the backside or the alley side of the structure, and they came in the back door as well and assisted," Van Arnam said. "The structure is stable. However, there was a lot of smoke. The crews were battling smoke more than flames, so all of the articles in the building are probably right off just due to the smoke."
The origin and cause of the fire are still unknown. Since the fire, Lorber has started a GoFundMe for Al. Lorber's wife will also be helping to raise money by providing photo sessions in their studio (311 -10 Avenue) next door to Liquidaction.
"We’ve been neighbours with him for a couple of years now, and Al is [a] salt of the earth kind of guy. I believe that, especially nowadays, people need to look out for other people, and I wanted to help him out."
He said that Al was devastated when he heard the news.
"When I first phoned him, he said, 'there goes owning a shop dream'," Lorber added. "I’m just the kind of guy that knows what it’s like when you want to pursue a dream. I told him I will get a GoFundMe going, and we’ll help him."
Liquidauction boasts everything from widgets to gadgets to everything in between.
"Al has pretty much everything you can think of: comics and clothes and gadgets and shoes and electronics," Lorber said. "You name it, Al has it; if he doesn’t, he will go out of his way to find it for you. Everybody goes there when they want to find something, and even if you didn’t think you needed it, you’ll find it."
Lorber added that everyone, from adults to kids, enjoys the store. The GoFundMe’s monetary goal is $20,000.
"In these tough times, Al had limited resources to keep things insured, as he has a lot of inventory... We ask you if you can help Al in this trying time as it gets close to the holidays and hopefully restore his heart and shop to what it once was," the GoFundMe added.
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