Extreme cold a challenge for crews battling fire that destroyed Northern Bear Golf Course clubhouse

The extreme cold created additional challenges for firefighters battling a blaze at the Northern Bear Golf Course near Township Road 510 and Range Road 222 in Alberta’s Strathcona County Saturday morning.

Fire crews arrived around 3 a.m. to find the southeast side of the clubhouse on fire, with flames coming through the roof.

A spokesperson with Strathcona Fire said minutes later, the clubhouse was fully involved and “crews were fighting a defensive fire in very difficult fire conditions.”

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Officials said the water supply was challenged due to the extreme -40 C temperature, creating issues with frozen pump ports and lines.

“If we’re not moving water all the time, everything freezes almost instantly,” said Chad Granger, a firefighter with Strathcona County Fire.

“Our ports are freezing, our hoses are freezing up, even our trucks — we try to just keep water running through the lines if we can.”

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Granger said at one point, firefighters were even using exhaust from the trucks to try to thaw things out.

Firefighters also worked in shifts to take breaks from the cold.

Five tankers were required to shuttle in water.

Ron Yoneda lives near the golf course and was awoken by the sound of sirens.

“I got up and as soon as I went to the porch I could see that the sky was just red,” Yoneda said. “It was very scary, you could hear, see it, smell it. Luckily, the wind was pushing it away from our homes.”

“The Northern Bear club house is probably one of the most beautiful in western Canada, if not all of Canada. It was kind of our second home out here. It’s devastating.”

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Rod Frank, mayor of Strathcona County, said the fire was very concerning.

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“Especially for our emergency services, fighting a fire in this type of weather, then there’s the surrounding buildings. It’s a very important recreation facility in Strathcona County. It has a great reputation.”

In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, officials said “We are devastated by the loss but grateful no one was at the clubhouse and that there was no one injured.”

No injuries were reported.

Fire officials are investigating the cause of the fire.