An Alberta man who lost his home in last year鈥檚 wildfire in Fort McMurray has had another stroke of incredibly bad luck, losing a second house this summer to raging forest fires in British Columbia.
鈥淣ot that there's ever a good time to have a fire, but this is most definitely the worst time,鈥� Jason Schurman told CTV Edmonton. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit much and my wife was literally (saying), 鈥楾his is just like last year -- this is getting ridiculous.鈥欌��
Today, Schurman鈥檚 Fort McMurray home is little more than a charred foundation.
鈥淏aby pictures, everything,鈥� Schurman said of their loss. 鈥淎 lot of our family was in that house. Everything was in that house.鈥�
More than a year later, Schurman, like many others, isn鈥檛 done with insurance claims. While he still works in Fort McMurray, he鈥檚 now moved his family to Edmonton.
鈥淚t was starting to get better in terms of normalcy,鈥� he said.
Then, the unthinkable happened -- another wildfire in another province caused another home he owns to burn to the ground.
鈥淚 can tell you it was an instant amount of stress, just 鈥榗ause I know from experience what I just finished going through... And I'm not even finished,鈥� he said.
Schurman bought the now-scorched house, which was located west of Williams Lake, as a bachelor, keeping it as a rental property when he moved to Alberta to start a family.
The family is now being forced to pay mortgages on two empty lots as well as their new Edmonton home, their savings and credit stretched to the limit. Eventually, insurance settlements will come through, but Schurman expects to take a loss on both properties.
Meanwhile, life goes on for the family, although things have been far from easy.
鈥淲hen it's raining, nobody鈥檚 got rain jackets,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen it was cold, nobody had winter jackets. So yeah, you're constantly searching for stuff and buying stuff. 鈥�
With a report from CTV Edmonton鈥檚 Jeremy Thompson
