Soharwardy, who knows the family, says they're still in shock.
Chestermere Mayor Marshall Chalmers says in a statement that "words cannot effectively express the devastation on (the) community."
A man and his wife and children from Ontario were staying with his brother and his brother's wife and children at the house, Soharwardy says, when the fire erupted early Friday.
RCMP have said the cause of the fire is under investigation but initial findings don't suggest it was deliberately set.
"In our Islamic terminology, anybody who died because of these kind of tragedies, they are considered as martyrs," Soharwardy said in an interview Saturday.