Cochrane mourns after tragic house fire claims two lives

People in Cochrane, Ont., are coming together in support of a family who suffered tragic losses over the weekend. A house fire on Saturday night claimed the lives of two people and with the town being a close-knit one, many are mourning their passings.

Ardis Proulx manages the Cochrane Regional Food Bank and Thrift Store. This week, she’s collecting cash donations, clothing and other items on behalf of lifelong friends of hers.

“They’re also clients of food bank and volunteers so, we have a connection with them that way, and we just feel compelled to obviously help them in their time of need,” said Proulx.

The Cochrane Fire Department responded to the call on Saturday evening around 9:21 p.m. Fire chief Richard Vallee said 17 firefighters and three fire apparatus were dispatched to 123 Namah Road. The chief said when they arrived at the rural dwelling, they established a tanker shuttle operation to supply water for fire suppression.

“Took us maybe five minutes to get there. Good response from the guys. Really quick,” said Vallee.

“Seeing that it was 30 below zero as well and then, just to let you know that the truck, every time we did the water shuttle… We had to use a blowtorch to open the valves and stuff like that because the truck would freeze every time that we brought the water.”

Vallee said four people were treated at the scene and were transported to Lady Minto Hospital.

“The fire marshal’s office was on scene, starting from the Sunday afternoon,” said the local fire chief.

“They did conduct their investigation, however, they haven’t released any information yet from that investigation.”

But the community is now mourning the loss of Jake Scott, a grandfather and his granddaughter, Serenity.

“On behalf of the Cochrane Fire Department, we’d like to extend our sincere condolences to the family and everybody affected by the the loss on Saturday night,” said Vallee.

“They’re just an average family we would have in Cochrane, nothing fancy – that’s what they would say,” said Proulx.

“Very down to earth, very loving, very tight knit multigenerational household with grandparents and parents and grandchildren, everybody. They’re just welcoming and they never complained about anything.”

Not long after returning to the fire hall from Namah Road, fire crews were dispatched to two additional blazes. Over an 18-hour period, crews battled three fully engulfed residential fires.

“Totally unrelated, at a different location where a mobile home caught on fire and then burned to the ground,” said Vallee.

“We came back to the fire hall, ate a piece of pizza and at 3:00 p.m. we got called on the next one, which was another fully engulfed, building in the urban center this time.”

Vallee said no one was injured in those two fires – but he wants to remind everyone to have working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors in their homes.

Proulx told CTV News that the victims of any of the three fires are welcome to contact the food bank for any assistance they may need.