FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – Fivestar boxers Nick Young and Lane Harris squared up against a different foe last weekend in Lacombe: a house fire.
While the two athletes were in Lacombe for Alberta’s Diamond Belt competition, they decided to go to the grocery store to get snacks. On their way back to the hotel, they noticed a plume of black smoke in the sky.
Young says that initially, they didn’t think much of it.
“I thought someone probably just started a little fire in the backyard,” Young recalled.
The smoke intensified as the boys walked back to their hotel, and the two happened upon the source – a fence and a deck, completely engulfed in flames.
“I look over to Lane, I said, do you think they know what’s going on? So we started to cross the street to go over there,” Young said
“Then a lady bolted out of the door. She could hear the fire crackling from inside the house.”
Young says at this point, the fire had grown, melting the siding of the house entirely off and melting the siding of the house beside it.
According to Harris, the two then had to jump through flames to get to the woman’s backyard to access her hose.
“I turned on the hose, and Nick started aiming the hose while I called 9-1-1,” Harris said.
Young says the two battled the flames for fifteen minutes to get the fire under control until the fire department arrived to put out the blaze.
He believes a smoker caused the fire after being placed too close to a fence in the woman’s yard.
“Once I sprayed all that off, and it cooled down, I checked the propane, and the propane was off. So that smoker must’ve been some hot to catch the fence on fire,” Young speculated.
Fivestar Boxing Coach Justin Donally says the reaction from the two young boxers didn’t surprise him in the slightest.
“They’re both strong-minded leaders of the club and the team. With the training that we do, combat sports prepares you for all aspects of life and to throw yourself in that situation,” Donally said.
“It’s not something that surprised me too much, but I’m pretty proud of them.”