A Millarville home was destroyed in a fire Friday morning.
The fire was reported on Millarville Landing at about 8:30 a.m., and firefighters on scene said flames were coming from the top and second floors of the three-storey home when the first units arrived.
"The initial call came in for a structure fire around 8:30 (a.m.)," Foothills Fire Chief Rick Saulnier said at the scene.
"When crews arrived on scene it was fully involved on the third floor, the second floor was fully involved.
"We got a good knockdown on the fire, but we're going to be here for a while working on hot spots."
In all, units responded from Okotoks, Turner Valley, Black Diamond, Heritage Pointe and as far away as Redwood Meadows to fight the fire.
According to a neighbour, they heard shouting and sirens outside around 8:30 a.m. before looking outside to see smoke pouring out of vents.
"When I first came out, you could just see smoke coming out of the vents," said the neighbour, who declined to give a name. "By the time I grabbed a hose to come around, the shingles were already starting to burn.
"It was only about 20 minutes before the collapse of the roof."
As of 1 p.m., the fire is knocked down and crews remain on scene mopping up.
No injuries were reported, although one firefighter is being treated for minor smoke inhalation as a precaution, and one of the home's occupants was transported as a precaution.
The home was the subject of international notoriety in 2019, when the homeowner, Alla Wagner, started a contest to give away the home, accepting entry fees and letters with the plan to choose one entrant to based on their letter. In early 2020, the contest had been cancelled and Wagner was seeking to return the funds to those who entered, indicated on a version of her website preserved by the Internet Archive.
The cause has not been determined and an investigation is expected to take some time.
