Emergency crews were called to the scene of a fire at the Urban Square strip mall in southwest Calgary at around 1 p.m. Saturday.
MacLeod Trail was shut down in both directions temporarily between 42 Avenue and 45 Avenue southwest due to the blaze.
Jordon Paupst-Wall, who lives across the street at the Calgary Dream Centre, said he was coming out the doors to go meet up with a friend when he saw smoke billowing out around the middle portion of the top floor.
“From there, it slowly started to spread. Flames started to spread along the balcony towards the ends. That’s when I saw a couple people I knew trying to help people get out and get down from the second floor. They jumped right from the end of the balcony…because they couldn’t get access to the stairs,” Paupst-Wall said. “It was like an inferno. It just spread like wildfire and grew at an extreme rate.”
Several locals are being hailed as heroes by the Calgary Fire Department for getting people out of the businesses in the strip mall while the fire was spreading.
“We had three people go from door-to-door to get people out of the building and they didn’t even know the roof was on fire. They’re heroes….They saved some lives for sure,” district chief Wayne Mcqueen said.
Calgary Dream Centre employee Mackie Martineau said he was walking down the hall and saw flames.
“One of my clients there gave me a hand and got someone out of the tattoo shop. I think we got everybody out. And then me and the lady got trapped up on the second floor by the flames,” Martineau said. “I got her to jump over the railing and some people came underneath us and I helped her drop down and I dropped down myself.”
“I help people with addictions so I’ve seen a lot of suffering. I’ve devoted my life to helping other people, so when I saw those flames I just did what anybody should do – help out, not just stand there with your phone out,” Martineau said.
Kaden Clouston, a Dream Centre client, also helped bring others to safety.
“I realize there is a second floor and I knew I had to run up there because I just had a feeling that someone was up there. I wasn’t thinking. My instinct took over and I did whatever any decent human being would do and I ran up there,” Clouston said. “The gentleman was in the middle of getting a tattoo and I yelled out, ‘Guys, you got to get out of the building – there’s a fire!”
Clouston said by the time she returned to the place she entered from, the flames were already three times as big. After pushing through the smoke, she was taken to an ambulance until her CO2 levels were normalized.
“It’s going to stick with me the rest of my life for sure I’m never going to forget this moment,” Clousto said.
EMS said several people were assessed on scene but none were injured.
No one was taken to hospital, according to EMS.
Officials continue to investigate what caused the fire and where the blaze initially began
With files from Carolyn Kury de Castillo
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