A young couple is grateful for the support of the Standard community after their home was struck by lightning.
Abe Jensen and Kelsey Ives live about three kilometres south of the village and had a new modular home purchased a couple of years ago. On June 28, shortly before 9 p.m., Abe was at his window watching the rain pour down resigning himself to the fact he wouldn’t be spraying that night.
“The whole house shook, I was looking out the window and you could see the whole yard light up. You could tell it was extremely close,” said Abe.
He joked with Kelsey saying he thought the house was struck by lightning. He called his father immediately, but they could smell a metallic smell lingering in the air. He stuck his head out the door.
“You could see smoke rolling out from the soffit,” he said.
They immediately called 911, exited the house and began spraying water on the roof.
“Within four or five minutes you couldn’t even get into the house. We were lucky and shuttled a couple of things out like the computer and passports,” said Abe.
He said they were lucky the Standard Fire Department was actually meeting in town and they were able to arrive within 15 minutes.
In all, four departments responded to the blaze, and while the house didn’t completely burn, the smoke, fire and water damage made it uninhabitable and unfixable.
He said it is a manufactured home and the blaze happened within the airspace between the vaulted ceiling and roof.
“The whole roof burnt up, but the walls are fine the whole roof collapsed in and everything was water damaged. They were blasting water in there for three straight hours.”
“If we weren’t home our house would have burned right to the ground, and our two dogs would be gone.”
The couple has since taken up residence in a rental property in the Village of Standard while they wait to rebuild. They are looking at bringing in the same model of modular home to their yard.
“With materials and workforce it is going to be at least eight months from the day we put the order in compared to four months when we got our house two years ago,” said Abe.
He and Ives are grateful for the fire departments that were able to come in and do their best to save their home and belongings. He has also since learned the members of the community have organized a fundraiser for the couple.
“There was a bunch of neighbours and people from the town who came immediately to see if everything was okay. Our friends made sandwiches and had coffee for all the firefighters.”
A collection is being taken at Christensen’s Clover Farm Grocery store in Standard.
“People who I haven’t even talked to in a while are reaching out offering their help which is pretty awesome,” said Abe.
He said funds will help them keep afloat as their insurance is sorted.

Wheatland County council approved an additional $60,000 towards the update of the audio and visual equipment in its council chambers and Emergency Communications Centre (ECC) during the regular Tuesday, July 5 council meeting.
Council had previously allocated $110,000 towards this update during the 2022 budget deliberations; however, estimates for the project were higher than originally budgeted due to rising costs from equipment scarcity and availability, as well as inflation.
“We had planned to do this (update) over the summer, and the next meeting is in August,” shared Corporate and Financial Services general manager Tracy Buteau during the meeting.
Division 4 Councillor Tom Ikert made a motion to approve the request for an additional $60,000 from reserves for the equipment update, which was unanimously approved by council.