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‘All you need are the people you love’: MacDowall couple lose home in fire

Jan 6, 2017 | 4:00 PM

A MacDowall, Sask. couple said losing their uninsured home in a fire Tuesday night showed them what’s really important – the people they love.

Tony Loehndorf said when he and his partner Victoria Muskaluk came home from work to find smoke pouring out of their home, the first thing he thought of was Odin, his Great Dane.

“My dog’s in there, and all I could see is smoke before I entered the house,” Loehndorf told paNOW. “We got the dog out; he was okay. He was still conscious, luckily, because that just scared me more than anything.”

After getting Odin to safety, Loehndorf said he shut off the circuit breakers and began a single-handed effort to fight the fire with pails of water. The fire, Loehndorf said, was raging within the walls and ceiling of the war-era home, and when he went upstairs the smoke was overpowering.

“I slipped on the water that I was throwing around, so the light went flying [and] it was lost, so I was in the darkness just slipping around, panicking,” he said. “I couldn’t see where I was, so I was just feeling around trying to find the stairs. I made it out of there just before I passed out. I got one breath of that smoke and it just about floored me.”

Loehndorf said neighbours arrived quickly to help out, but at that point there was nothing they could do except wait for the fire department.

When the volunteer fire crews arrived, firefighters quickly found their water trucks were unable to match the pace of the rapidly-spreading inferno. Because MacDowall has no fire hydrants, the trucks were forced to leave the scene to refill several times.

“Even though we had the two trucks there it took a while before we could get any water going on the fire again,” Loehndorf said. “It was able to really take off again by this time, and it got out of control.”

“Everybody was there helping and doing whatever they could, but it was just getting worse and worse,” he said.

Loehndorf said the couple had recently moved in together, and had not yet set up home insurance.

“That was kind of the first thing on the list,” he said.

By the next morning all that was left standing on the property was the scorched brick chimney.

“I would have liked to have grabbed a couple things out while I had the chance,” Loehndorf said. “It got too dangerous, so it got to the point where none of those things are important. At least we’re safe. That’s what matters.”

Muskaluk said her mother started a GoFundMe crowdfunding page for the couple to help offset their expenses as they try to get their lives back in order. Muskaluk said she’s blown away by the support the couple has received.

“They hear about something that happened and they’re just so supportive and caring,” she said. “Situations like these make a person realize all you need are the people you love.”

“It makes a world of difference,” Loehndorf said. “Obviously it’s a really tough time, but it goes a long way to see that people are willing to lend a hand.”

RCMP communications strategist Paul Dederick told paNOW officers attended during the fire, but the incident is not being treated as suspicious and no investigation is planned.

 

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

@TMacPhersonNews