'Nothing here for us now': Northern Sask. family reeling after house burns to the ground
Sharon Albert was in North Battleford when her sister ran down the stairs and said "our house is burning down."
"I didn't really know what to think," Albert said. "My head was just spinning."
For Albert, the house held memories of her happy childhood but also of a younger brother who took his own life in the house.
The house on Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation caught fire during the earlier hours of April 24. Albert said she found out around 1 p.m.
"It's just really hard. I don't know how to explain it," she said.
Albert's older brother and his family were home at the time but were able to make it out safe. The cause of the fire is still unknown to the family but RCMP are investigating.
"There is always a bunch of memories there. It's where my mom brought home my baby sister for the first time and it's where we grieved together from losing my baby brother," she said.
"I couldn't even stay there and look at it burn anymore. I had to leave because I was in tears."
Family wasn't able to save brother's possessions
"We kept a lot of pictures and some of the stuff he made from school — all the stuff that he made from when he was growing up," she said. "We just loved to read all the stuff that he would write."
"He had a journal actually that was in there and I was reading it before actually like last week I was reading that journal but I left it inside my mother's room," Albert said. "And that's where all his stuff was located, inside my mom's room."
They weren't able to get anything out of their childhood home before it was in flames, Albert said, and losing her brother's things was what devastated her the most.
Her grandparents came to the home to try and help calm her mom.
"My mom was pretty hysterical," she said. "You could tell that it broke their hearts."
"[It's] somewhere we can go to when we need somewhere to go and there's basically nothing here for us now. It's gone."
House fire brought up memories of Albert's father
Albert isn't sure what her brother and his family are going to do next but said her family will try and accommodate them.
"My memories are there but I really wish that the house was still there."
The fire has another level of impact for her because Albert lost her father in a house fire about 12 years ago on the same First Nation, she said.
"It's kind of devastating for me because my brother was in the house," she said. "Who knows what could have escalated from there."
The Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation is 139 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon.
If you're experiencing suicidal thoughts or having a mental health crisis, there is help out there.
For an emergency or crisis situation, call 911.
You can also contact the Saskatchewan suicide prevention line toll-free, 24/7 at 1-833-456-4566, the Regina Mobile Crisis Services suicide line at 306-525-5333 or Saskatoon mobile crisis line at 306-933-6200.
