Little of Northern Bear Golf Course clubhouse left standing after fire

Only the bones of the Northern Bear Golf Course's clubhouse just outside Sherwood Park remained Saturday after an early morning fire.

According to Strathcona County's fire department, alarms at the clubhouse rang at 3 a.m.

When the first of three squads and five tankers arrived, crew members found the southeast side of the clubhouse engulfed in flames. The fire overtook the building in a "short timeframe."

Smoke billows from what remained of the Northern Bear Golf Course's clubhouse just outside Sherwood Park on Jan. 13, 2024, after an early morning fire. (CTV News Edmonton / Galen McDougall)

"We are all devastated about the loss of our beautiful clubhouse. We are so grateful no one was at the clubhouse and there was no one injured," management said in a public statement.

The course's golf director, Blair McDowell, was travelling back to Canada and could not speak to CTV News Edmonton on Saturday.

Kady Risby, who got married at the golf course two years ago, told CTV News Edmonton she insisted on having the clubhouse appear in the wedding photography because of its beauty.

Kady Risby was married at the Northern Bear Golf Course just outside Sherwood Park before its clubhouse burned down on Jan. 13, 2024. (Credit: Kady Risby)

"I think I'm the only person who got married there who turned it around and actually had the bride and groom at the big window because I wanted the beautiful reflection of the sky," she said in an interview.

Despite a horrible forecast, the weather that day was perfect.

"I just kind of assumed it would be there forever. After we got married, we went back there for a few of their Friday night dinners they have during the off season and it was so nice."

Late Saturday morning, the firefighters on scene were taking turns in the extreme cold to knock the rest of the blaze down.

"With this amount of cold out here, if we're not moving water all the time, everything freezes almost instantly. Our trucks aren't really meant to be working in this kind of cold, so we have problems with the ports freezing, with our hand lines freezing, with our supply lines freezing," assistant platoon chief Chad Granger said the course.

Hoses lay frozen on the ground on Jan. 13, 2024, after a fire at the Northern Bear Golf Course just outside Sherwood Park. (CTV News Edmonton / Galen McDougall)

A warming station was also brought to the scene for firefighters to rest in.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The club's management thanked Strathcona County's fire crews as well as the public for its support, promising "to rebuild better than it was before."

Risby said: "We'll be the first to come back for dinner and golf when they do."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Evan Kenny and Galen McDougall