ATHABASCA – An Athabasca County resident who lost his shop and pumphouse in a late January fire is asking the municipality to waive the remaining $4,050 firefighting bill after five different departments were dispatched to his property.
Athabasca County councillors voted 8-0 (Coun. Kelly Chamzuk was absent) during their July 27 meeting in favour of the recommended motion from administration to table discussion to the Aug. 31 council meeting.
“I thought that my insurance would have been sufficient. I’m not sure where to go from here, and I feel like I’m being overcharged.” said Duigon, who’s a retiree. “There’s a $4,000 bill that’s outstanding, and I’m not going to be able to pay for it.”
The fire
The incident occurred Jan. 22, 2023; in a letter submitted to council, Duigon wrote that he and his wife had suffered a “horrific fire” that occurred as a result of a “freak disaster.”
“A hefty chunk of snow and ice that was melting off the large tin roof could have fallen anywhere off the side of the shop as it normally does, but instead, it lined up directly with the power pole that has been in the same place for 20 years,” said Duigon, adding that the two of them are life-long residents of the county.
The ice allegedly sheared off the top of the power pole, leaving a live wire dangling which ended up welding itself to the top of the lean-to sheltering their pumphouse, which is connected to the shop. Duigon said that smoke started to billow out of the roof of the shop, and despite their use of fire extinguishers, the flames continued to spread.
“We are both seniors living on a fixed income and have just suffered the loss of a lifetime’s worth of work and belongings, in addition to valuable buildings on our property,” said Duigon. “We ask that Athabasca County revoke their decision to charge us an additional $4,050 for the services of the numerous fire departments that responded. Unfortunately, their late response was a little too late.”
The Duigon family changed insurance companies at the end of 2022. According to their insurance agent, Co-operators Insurance wouldn’t insure the shop fully unless they removed a wood stove from within, which Duigon refused to do. Co-operators covered $10,000 of the $14,050 bill, but Duigon is responsible for the remainder.
“I’ve never had any claims in the past 30, 35 years, and I wasn’t satisfied with the insurance company I was with, so I went across the street. I would say I’m satisfied with them, but because I wouldn’t take that stove out, they wouldn’t insure my shop. I had insurance on contents, and some of it was insurance from the house, but it didn’t cover the shop.”
Costly delays
By Duigon’s recollection, it took Fortis Alberta roughly 30 minutes to arrive; while he and his wife owned the power pole, fire services were unable to spray water on it until Fortis confirmed the pole was inactive, according to Coun. Gary Cromwell, a former fire chief for Wandering River.
“Fortis does have to attend to ensure that the power is actually safe before water can be applied,” said Cromwell. “Even if the pole is off, we (fire services) can’t start spraying the fire until we’re told it is safe to do so.”
Duigon said that the Athabasca, Boyle, Plamondon, Lac La Biche, and Wandering River fire departments all responded to the call and arrived at the same time as the utility companies but were too late to do anything but prevent the fire from spreading. The Grassland Fire Department, which is located six kilometres from the property, was short-staffed at the time, and the station had been taken out of rotation while they focused on recruitment efforts, according to Athabasca County communications coordinator Jordan Schenkelberg.
