‘There was the red glow of a fire:’ Early-morning blaze in Pense

Two properties in Pense were destroyed by fire Friday, leaving two families devastated.

“I haven’t had a chance to speak with the affected families, but it’s pretty clear we’ve had a pretty big tragedy this morning for a couple of families just losing property,” Pense Mayor Shauna Young said Friday morning.

“On the plus side, though, it appears that no one was hurt or (we) don’t have any physical injuries from the fire this morning, so we’re counting our blessings.”

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— BJChamb (@1bontigger) March 6, 2020

Members of Pense’s volunteer fire department responded to a call of a fire at a residential property at about 4:45 a.m. Young said by the time the firefighters arrived on the scene, the house was totally engulfed.

“Unfortunately, we had the fire move over to an adjoining property, which was a shed,” she added.

@CJMENews 5:00 am in Pense. The first home pic.twitter.com/hpGh4vNq7L

— BJChamb (@1bontigger) March 6, 2020

The shed was filled with vehicles and other items. Living quarters at the front of the shed also were destroyed.

Two houses gone now pic.twitter.com/1U9setjAIW

— Karen Briere (@kjbriere) March 6, 2020

Young said firefighters from the Avonlea, Grand Coulee and Rouleau fire departments arrived to help their colleagues from Pense.

Dan Lewis was driving to Regina from Moose Jaw when he saw activity in the town.

“As I got closer to Pense, I could see that there was the red glow of a fire going on in there,” Lewis said. “It looked like a fairly large one, so I just pulled into Pense to see what it was.”

He said a large building south of the railway tracks was on fire.

(Mike Payne/Submitted)

Rod Allan also was on the Trans-Canada Highway when he noticed the blaze.

“I saw the flames from the highway — which is obviously a good mile, mile and a half away — and they were probably 20, 30, 40 feet in the air,” he said while the battle to extinguish the fire was going on. “I see some red flashing lights and it’s a substantial fire.”

Pense is about 35 kilometres west of Regina.