CALGARY- A woman has died after suffering critical injuries in a house fire early Sunday morning in the city’s southwest.
Neither police nor the fire department has confirmed her name, but a neighbour has identified the woman as 35-year-old Brenda Walsh.
Fire crews were called to the 100 block of Everwoods Link S.W. around 2 a.m. Sunday.
When they arrived, they found two children, aged 3 and 8, outside the home, along with their father, Kelly Milne.
Firefighters immediately started a search for the mother, who was trapped inside the home.
Using thermal imaging cameras, firefighters searched the smoke-filled house and found the woman on the floor of a second storey bedroom.
Both children were also taken to hospital as a precaution. Their father suffered burns and smoke inhalation and remains in serious condition.
“I’m sure he tried to go back into the house, because the clothes they cut off him were soaking wet in a bag,” said Milne’s father, Wayne Milne. “He must have wet himself down to try to go back and get Brenda. But he didn’t make it.”
As fire crews searched for Walsh, neighbour Laurianne Schell bundled up the young girls in blankets in her home, while the sisters waited to hear about their mother.
“Their mother was inside the house still. They didn’t know if she had been rescued and neither did I, so I was trying not to talk about that.”
“We all held hands and prayed,” said Schell. “I think the girls were calmed by that too. They go to a Catholic school so they know about prayer and they felt calm as we held hands.”
Two firefighters suffered minor injuries.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, although it is believed to have started in the main floor kitchen.
It isn’t known at this time if the home had working smoke detectors.
Those who would like to donate items to the family can do so at the MaxWell South Star Realty office at 8180 Macleod Tr. South. A trust fund is also being set up.
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