The Calgary Fire Department said it will review what appears to be a delay fighting a fire on Savanna Grove northeast Tuesday morning.
A fire started in the garage of a home at around 10 a.m. and caused significant damage to the front of the home and some of the interior.
Larry Anderson is a construction worker who was working on a new home across the street and took video as the fire department arrived on the scene.
He said it looked like firefighters were having some type of problem with the water pressure hooking up their first hose.
“It seemed like they had trouble getting the water going really well,” Anderson said.
“At first, they were going just from the pumper and it didn’t seem to have much pressure and then, when they finally got the hydrant working and the big line started to go, it really started to get the water and they really started to douse the flames.”
He says the delay was only two to three minutes long but others, like Carlo Carlesimo, who was also watching the scene, were getting worried.
“Oh, for sure, yeah. It was very low at the beginning. It was kind of scary, actually, to watch. I didn’t know if it was going to go out or not, if they were going to able to get to it.”
WATCH: Witnesses say it appears fire fighters at a Saddle Ridge house fire has problems for several minutes before they could fight the flames. Tony Tighe reports.
The Calgary Fire Department said the video does appear to show a delay.
Battalion Chief Stu Laird confirmed there were no issues with water pressure from the fire hydrants on the street but said he couldn’t comment on why the video appears the way it does.
“We conduct what we call a debrief and we ask questions. What happened on scene? What went right? What are our learnings? How can we improve?” Laird said.
“It expands our knowledge base for future calls. So at this time, it appears there was a couple of minutes delay in suitable water pressure. Crews quickly got it under control and put the fire out.”
The chief said after making sure no one was inside the home, they were able to stabilize the scene and protect the properties on either side.
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