CALGARY - Dozens heard the worst and gathered to watch their homes burn, among them Camilo and Sandra Anzola.
For the couple, who came to Calgary from Colombia to start a better life two years ago, the sight of flames consuming their condo building was a bitter irony.
"We tried to change our lives, now this," said Camilo, 38, who'd left work when alerted to the blaze.
"The good news is, we have insurance but all our stuff is gone, our computer, papers, pictures -- we have to start our lives over again."
When they moved in to the fourth-floor suite, the structure was billed as particularly secure from fire, he added.
Sean Weller said he was doing an oil change on a forklift tractor at his workplace when told of the fire.
His heart sank, he said, as he spotted flames from Anderson Rd. kilometres away as he drove to the scene.
"The scariest part was seeing the flames from there -- I just about lost it right there," said Weller, 30, among a crowd of a dozen onlookers, some of them weeping.
"I'm a first-time home-buyer and that was it."
Weller said he wonders if more could have been done to construct the building in a more fire-proof fashion, or if government construction regulations are strict enough.
A block away, another resident from the building clutching two small bags wept loudly, saying her birthday was just a few days away.
"This is going to be the worst birthday ever," said the woman, too distraught to give her name.
Helen Zeman stood helplessly across the street from the blaze, talking to her husband on the phone, the two wondering how to break the news to their daughter -- that a fire was ripping across the building where she has a home on the top floor.
"I don't want to tell her and stress her out, it's just so bad -- let's hope no life is left behind," Zeman said.
She said her daughter, 32-year-old Olga, just came out of a rough year which included a lay-off, struggling to pay the mortgage and finally landing the new job this week.
"She was so excited about her new job and everything was looking OK -- and now this," her mother said.
Hours later, Zeman picked her daughter up from work and went to the emergency centre where she was given a change of clothes.
Then they went back to Zeman's home where they ordered pizza and along with friends tried to comfort Olga.
"She is drinking coffee and crying," her mother said.
Another resident, Colin McGee, had mixed feelings about the day.
He was spared from having to flee the fire because he was at a hockey game, but came home in time to see the building burning and firefighters battling the blaze.
"I'm like, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" said McGee, 31. "I just signed another year lease yesterday."
McGee said he was dreading telling his girlfriend, who is away for work, what happened.
"I don't want to call her," he said. "She'll jump on the first plane home."
nadia.moharib@sunmedia.ca
