Blaze consumes home off Ellerslie Road in southeast Edmonton

Thick black smoke and orange flames could be seen coming from the roof of a townhouse just off Ellerslie Road late Tuesday morning.

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said crews were called at about 10:30 a.m.

Kristina Ziehr was staying with family in the neighbourhood when someone alerted them to the fire.

“One of our neighbours came by and said there was a fire right next door,” she said. “We came out looking around the corner and the top of the building was just on fire and we were just hoping everyone got out okay. It was kind of scary… The fire just spread across the top of the roof there and the firefighters came and started putting it out.

“They were here quick and they started working on it really fast. It didn’t look like it was getting too far,” Ziehr said. “It looked like it started from the back and just was working its way to the front and the roof was caving in.”

Officials said three units of the townhouse were affected, but just one was severely damaged.

“There was one tenant in the working suite that got awoken by his head being warm while he was sleeping in the back and opened his curtain and saw flames coming up,” District Fire Chief Jim Solkowski said. “No injuries and the guys did a great job of saving the rest of the complex.”

Solkowski said the firefighters’ response time was really good since the fire hall is quite close.

Seven fire trucks were on scene along Ellerslie Road near Stanton/Edwards Drive.

“Everybody got out okay and all the cats got out okay, from what we hear,” Ziehr said. “There were cats in the neighbour’s house.”

There is no word on the cause and a damage estimate has not been released.