Residents of Lake Louise housing complex shattered by blaze as man charged with arson
Community rallying behind those who lost everything
Brittney MacRae came back to the Charleston Residence in Lake Louise, Alta., on Tuesday morning after a fire tore through the building she had called home just a few months before.
"I can't imagine having just the clothes you're wearing and that being it," said MacRae, one of many local residents who gathered Tuesday to help those affected by the blaze at the staff building for the Lake Louise Ski Resort.
Several of her friends lived in the three-storey log building that went up in smoke on Monday. It houses hundreds of local staff during the year, many of whom are now left with next to nothing.
While MacRae and other local hospitality workers rallied to get their neighbours' lives back on track, police continued to investigate the cause of the blaze that left 160 people homeless.
A day earlier, RCMP responded to reports of a fire at the building around noon and found a man on the roof. Police said he appeared to be in distress and in possession of a weapon.
After the situation deescalated, according to police, the man slipped while coming down a ladder. He was taken to a Calgary hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
A 40-year-old man, a resident of Lake Louise, has now been charged with arson and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
WATCH | A Lake Louise Landmark burns
Despite the damage caused by the fire, there were no fatalities reported, according to Alberta Health Services.
The building was still smouldering Tuesday and is likely a complete loss along with everything in it. People lost passports, visas and other important work documents, said one resident.
"I knew I had lost everything, I just needed to see the final result with my own two eyes," said Otto Thomas, who lived at the Charleston.
"Once that roof caught and it got inside the attic, it was game over for everyone.
"That's when people really did start crying, and that's when the hugs and the community spirit really started to pick up, and it's been onward and upward since."
Displaced residents were put in temporary accommodations at the Fairmont Lake Louise or the Lake Louise Inn as officials at Lake Louise Ski Resort figure out the next steps.
"We've already been working on trying to build up a bit of an ATCO trailer set up to see what we can do," said Dan Markham, the communications director for the Lake Louise Ski Resort.
"We're really working through all of that right now, our biggest priority was to make sure that all of the staff and residences were safe and that they had a place to stay."
Markham said there are counsellors on site to help people cope with the situation.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Helen Pike