Woman critically injured after fire breaks out at abandoned central Edmonton home

A woman was taken to hospital in life-threatening condition after a fire broke out at a home in central Edmonton Tuesday morning.

Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said it was called at 11:25 a.m. to a home on 79th Street near 119th Avenue in the Eastwood neighbourhood.

Five crews , or about 20 firefighters, arrived four minutes later to the vacant property, where the windows were boarded up and a construction fence surrounded the property.

District Chief Darryl Stang said they arrived to find black smoke pouring from the back of the home.

“We had a difficult time getting in because of the boarded-up situation,” Stang said.

Firefighters searched the home and found a person inside. Alberta Health Services said the woman was taken to hospital in critical condition.

Stand said it appears the fire began in the basement but it took a while for crews to figure that out.

“It’s not a very clean burning fire,” Stang said. “They had a difficult time trying to find where the seat of the fire itself was.”

EFRS said four rigs and a district chief initially responded, then a winter decon unit and two additional rigs were also dispatched.

The city said a winter decon unit includes a blow-up, heated tent which allows crews on scene to remove the gear worn during a fire, so they can clean up and go back to the station in fresh, dry gear.

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A posted sign indicated the home was one of several slated to be demolished to make way for an apartment building.

Fire investigators were sent to the scene but the cause is still being determined.