Faisal Madi will never forget the booming sound of the explosion the night of the deadly Bashaw fire on Sunday or the chilling screams that followed.
Madi was in his home watching TV right next door to the Bashaw Motor Inn when a blast rocked his house.
“I looked out the window and saw half the building on fire,” he said.
Madi, 32, jumped off his couch and ran outside to help. Living only metres away he was at the motel in less than a minute where he found the mother and two sons of the Tiwana family outside the front door.
Faisal Madi, a volunteer firefighter, lives next door to the Bashaw motel and was the first person on the scene after the explosion.
“Two of them were laying on the ground. One was standing. I tried to pull them away from the fire,” Madi said, explaining that all three appeared to have been badly burned.
Both boys were screaming for their father who they said was still inside, he said.
But no sounds were coming from inside the burning wreckage and the sheer height of the flames and intensity of the heat made it impossible to go inside.
He called 911 and after ensuring the boys and their mother were safe, Madi, a volunteer firefighter, joined the Bashaw fire crew in the fire fight.
Two vehicles rest on their sides near the blast site. (CBC)
RCMP have since confirmed the remains of one person were located in the rubble.
They were called to the fire at 1:15 a.m. Sunday.
Police have not yet identified the victim or determined what caused the fire.
RCMP confirmed racist graffiti was found at the property, but have not connected it to the explosion; nor are they saying what the graffiti said.
Police continue to maintain a presence at the scene which remains cordoned off by yellow tape, sifting through the rubble.
The small community of Bashaw is rallying around the family with a GoFundMe page is already close to its fundraising target of $10,000.
The Bashaw fire department has added another $1,600 to a trust account after collecting cash by going door to door, while a local peewee hockey team is running a bottle drive.
“What we do in our community is step up in times of tragedy,” said Jackie Northey, who set up the GoFundMe page.
Northey said the two boys from the family, still in hospital, are popular and known for getting involved in the community.
“They would always say ‘hi’ and if you ever needed anything they would drop anything to help you,” said Alison Oberg,
She said the younger Tiwana son helped her with a sports-day-for-kids this summer.
“He helped with Basketball Day, he’s big into basketball,” she said, adding she’s still coming to grips with the tragedy.
“It hurts me. There aren’t answers yet on what happened. I feel for them.”
Faisal Madi says he doesn’t know the family well, but describes them as “super friendly” and nice neighbours who always had a smile for him.
But it still haunts him that there was a person trapped inside who he could not reach.
“I wish I could have done more, but there was no way I could get through this fire.”