A two-storey house caught fire in the RM La Broquerie earlier today.

Around 4:30 PM, La Broquerie firefighters received a dispatch for a grass fire but when they arrived at the property on Loewen Boulevard, just east of Kokomo Road, they found a residence had ignited.

“The [owners] had something burning beside the house and it blew up and the whole house caught fire,” says La Broquerie Deputy Fire Chief JC Normandeau. Though what exactly blew up remains under investigation by the Office of the Fire Commissioner.

Normandeau says the home was large and so his crews required a significant amount of backup. Tankers from Steinbach, Richer, and Giroux all joined La Broquerie firefighters on scene as they battled the blaze.

“Things did get ugly,” he admits, “but they could have gotten worse.”

When the fire was extinguished around three hours later, Normandeau says the destruction was substantial; the walls were scorched, the roof was burnt away, and the interior had notable water damage. Normandeau suggests the owners might be able to salvage parts of it “but more likely they’ll tear it down from the inside and rebuild the interior, as well as the whole roof.”

Normandeau expects the exact cause of the fire and the damage estimate will be made available within the next few days.