Two adults died in a house fire on South Main Street in Westville early Sunday morning.
The fire was reported around 12:40 a.m. with Westville Fire Department responding along with auto aid from Stellarton and Alma fire departments.
Westville Police Chief Don Hussher said he could not release much information yet as they are still investigating. He said the two adults were found deceased at the scene and are believed to be casualties of the fire.
The RCMP Major Crime Unit is leading the investigation he said.
Sources who knew the deceased have told The News it was a woman and her adult son who died in the fire.
Westville firefighter Tom Steele who chairs the Canada Day events which are primarily organized by the Westville Fire Department said it made for a long day for some of their guys. They had spent much of Saturday helping prepare for events and then were up most of the night into Sunday morning fighting the fire. They then had to come back to the station and get the gear cleaned up and ready for the parade.
Steele said they realized it might be too much for the firefighters to be standing all day so they put out a call to the public and had an immediate response of phone calls and emails with people willing to help man gates and volunteer in other ways.
"It was very encouraging to see the public respond that way," he said. "We had too many people we had to send people away.
"It was heartwarming to see that. It wasn’t just Westville. It was people from across the county. It’s something we won’t forget."
He said other fire departments in the county stepped up and offered to help in various ways as well. Stellarton Fire Department which had helped them battle the blaze even gave up their spot in their parade and manned the Westville fire department during the parade in case anything happened.
