I had an uncomfortable conversation today with a good friend. She said she had some bad news.
“Did you read the front-page story about the fire?”
I hadn’t, since I was still reading Saturday’s paper. I quickly looked it up and scanned it.
“It was Kurtis’s cottage. Kurtis died in the fire.”
I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know Kurtis Hansen very well (I wasn’t sure until today what his last name was), but we’d hung out together many times when we worked at the Gazette. He was an evening security guard who would join the editors in the smoking room late in the evening to gossip. (I quickly learned after joining the paper that important social networking happens while people have cigarettes.) We’d discuss everything from the relative attractiveness of female staff at the paper to his women troubles.
He was our favourite security guard, because he had a very easy-going style and the kind of dry, wicked sense of humour that only copy editors can appreciate.
He left his job at the paper last year to work at Telus, which offered him more money and less boredom. I didn’t expect to see much of him again. But now the absence is permanent.
It won’t affect my life significantly, but I can’t just dismiss it.
What’s worse is the horribleness of the death itself. His two sisters are also gone, as well as two family friends. His father, who tried to drag him to safety and failed, now has to live with the loss of three children, assuming he even recovers from his injuries.
It sucks. Which is why those of us who knew him will be getting shitfaced later, in his honour.
The Gazette’s Katherine Wilton has an obit, which includes some quotes from his former boss. The cause of the fire is still unknown.
UPDATE (Sept. 5): Today’s Day 2 stories concern Kurtis’s 15-year-old stepsister who also perished, and a story about propane safety (even though no cause has been determined for the fire). The latter includes a “test yourself” quiz about propane safety, which like most government safety quizzes is insanely simple to anyone who graduated elementary school (you mean I should light the barbecue after I start the gas? Wow, thanks, because I’m a complete moron). Besides those issues, I’m not crazy about publishing a light-hearted quiz game as part of the coverage of five violent deaths.
UPDATE (Sept. 6): A Facebook group has been setup in his honour. And as he would put it: There’s some fine honeys there.
UPDATE (Sept. 9): Noah Sidel talks about Kurtis in his Off-Sidel column in the Westmount Examiner.
UPDATE (Oct. 6): The Gazette runs a belated obituary notice for Kurtis Hansen, Kelly Hansen and Heather Edelstein. It includes an online guestbook.
Hey Steve, was he the one who sat at the front desk and let peolple in when you worked the late shift. I meet that one, nice young man.
He was one of those people. There were a few who did that shift regularly. He was the tall, dark-haired one with the silly sense of humour.
Kurtis Hansen was a good friend of mine and one of my husband’s best friends. He was the type of guy who’d give you the shirt of his back. He was funny, intelligent and all ears. He was into volunteer coaching hockey with children and was excited to start this season up with my husband Eric.
It was Sunday night when we had heard of the cabin fire and that there were 5 deaths involved; I had immediately felt my stomach turn into knots. I knew. I am greatly saddened by Kurtis and his sister’s passing, for he was a one of a kind person. He was at our house early that week for supper, trying to teach our son about beer. I spoke to him on Friday night before he had left to go up to his cabin and I said come pass by when your onyour way home: I still wait for the phone to ring. I don’t know why I felt compelled to write this, but I just wanted everyone to know that Kurtis Hansen was a really great friend and that I miss him every day! May his familyand friends find peace.
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