A Horsefly couple said they are humbled by the amount of support they have received after their historic western home and some outbuildings were destroyed by a fire on Friday, Aug. 31.
For the time being, Jennifer Jackson and her husband, Tyler Maitland, have moved into a restored saloon on the property that her father, Darcy Jackson, had refinished as he developed a western town on the Little Horsefly Lake Road toward Horsefly Lake.
“It’s been absolutely incredible,” Jackson told the Tribune Thursday of the outpouring of support. “We had to go into Williams Lake to do some paper work for the insurance and when we came back the deck of the saloon was just packed with things that people had dropped off — clothes, tack, food, and everything. It’s heartwarming and it’s one of the benefits of living in a small community like we do.”
Jackson said they were hauling hay on their Barker Creek Ranch on the Black Creek Road last Friday morning when her mom, Sherry Maitland, came out to the field at around noon and told them their house was on fire.
“My grandparents live across from us and saw the smoke and went to the house first,” Jackson recalled. “They saw it was completely engulfed in flames and went down and got the neighbours to call the fire department.”
Her grandparents, Lloyd and Gloria Antypowich, were concerned because they didn’t know where Jackson and Maitland were.
“The neighbours stayed with them because they were so worried.”
Jackson’s mom drove them back to the house and when they got there members of the Horsefly Volunteer Fire Dept were on scene.
Linda Bartsch of the Horsefly Volunteer Fire Dept. told the Tribune Thursday that when they arrived the home and one outbuilding were fully involved.
“HVFD took a defensive attack and saved the bunkhouse and saloon of Little Horsefly Western Town,” Bartsch said. “No one was injured, the surrounding forest was not affected.”
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Jackson said the home was a restored building her father had added on to over the years, as part of a dream to build a western town out in Horsefly.
It was the house she grew up in.
“We just moved in last fall because my dad passed last year,” she said. “I think that’s the hardest part of all of it. It is feeling like you’ve lost some of the last connections we had to him. Everything in that place he built by hand. He sanded every board by hand.”
But, thankfully, she added, the Horsefly Fire Volunteer Fire Dept. was able to save the saloon, which was a big dream of her dad’s as well.
“By them being able to save that, we’ve still got a piece of him there, which is nice.”
Jackson has two siblings — Jason Jackson who lives in Grand Prairie and Jacob Jackson who lives in Horsefly.
“Jason drove down in the night the house burned down and got [here] in the middle of the night. It was really emotional,” Jackson said. “Jacob came out the next day to help us as well with the saloon and kind of absorb the totality of the fire.”
A few days after the fire, family friend and Horsefly resident Shelby Goodvin posted a message on her Facebook page asking for donations for the couple.
Aside from the house being lost, a few other buildings caught on fire as well, including their tack shop and all their tack, Goodvin noted.
“People donated tack so we could continue to ride and push our cows and work on the ranch and the basic stuff that’s going to get us through until things are sorted out,” Jackson said.
Friends and members of the community also helped get the saloon ready for them to move in.
“They helped us clean it up and hook up a generator. I don’t know how long we will be there, but we’re home and can continue to take care of our animals.”
There is a small propane heater set up inside, so they put in a 100-pound propane tank so they will be warm.
So far there no obvious cause of the fire has been verified, Jackson said, adding the whole experience has been humbling.
“We’ve had amazing support. There are so many people that we don’t even know who dropped off stuff because we weren’t there. Everybody’s help has just been amazing. We are so thankful.”
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