One house was destroyed and another badly damaged after multiple fire crews fought a house fire in southeast Calgary Thursday.
The Calgary Fire Department was called to a house fire at around 4 p.m. in the 800 block of Auburn Bay Boulevard Southeast. The CFD soon expanded it to a three-alarm response, for extra resources.
“The fire grew very quickly and spread to the neighbouring home,” CFD public information officer Carol Henke said.
“No injuries have been reported. That’s good news. The tragic part is one house is completely destroyed and the second house is significantly destroyed.”
In a news release issued Thursday night, the CFD said two adults and a child were at home when the fire began but all made it out safely. In addition to the home being destroyed and another home being damaged, two vehicles were damaged.
Warren Kaufman, who lives across the street, said he heard popping sounds outside his home after he finished an online meeting. It was when he opened his front door that he saw the start of the house fire.
“I just see flames shooting out of the garage,” Kaufman told Global News on Friday. “I ran outside, ran across to the second house here with the damage, knocked on the door to make sure nobody was there.”
He said he tried alerting other neighbours while a passerby called 911.
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“There was so much smoke on the street. It was just insane,” Kaufman said.
Henke said the extra resources were called in partly due to the extreme cold temperatures in the city, allowing crews to rotate often and warm up without pausing the firefighting efforts.
During the firefighting, temperatures hovered around -30 C and windchill sat below -40.
Fire investigators were at the scene and spoke with residents who had been in the damaged homes, who were staying in a separate warm space while CFD crews worked. The CFD said Calgary Transit supplied busses to be used as warming stations while staff at nearby St. Gianna School stayed late so that emergency responders could use the school as a “rehab location.”
Anyone with information, photos or video of the fire before crews arrived is asked to send them to piofire@calgary.ca.
Community rallies around families
The volunteer organization Auburn Bay Angels is organizing a team of volunteers to make meals, and the local A&W fast food restaurant is organizing a clothing drive and will donate some of their sales on Tuesday.
Restaurant owner Balwant Singh said the response has already been strong.
“The response is very great. It’s a great place to see even if you don’t know them, they are part of your community and it’s incredible,” Singh said.
The area councillor said he is proud for how the community is rallying to help the families after a “heartbreaking” incident.
“We have these groups that have self-galvanized and come together and mobilized when there’s times of need,” Ward 12 Coun. Evan Spencer said. “I just want to say thank you to everyone that’s involved in organizing because that takes time and energy, and I want to say to the families that my heart goes out to you.”
–with files from Phil Heidenreich and Carolyn Kury de Castillo, Global News
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