Firefighters in a northwestern Alberta town spent hours early Tuesday morning battling flames that ended up destroying one home and damaging two others beyond repair.
“A few firefighters suffered minor injuries,” a spokesperson for the Town of Peace River said in a news release, “but no other injuries have been reported.”
The Peace River Fire Department and the Weberville Fire Department responded to a call about a residential fire in the north end of town at around 1 a.m.
The fire chief also sent a mutual aid request to Northern Sunrise County and St. Isidore Fire Department.
A witness told Global News neighbours rallied together to ensure everyone got out and to try to save properties while they waited for volunteer firefighters to arrive.
“All we could think about was: let everybody know that there’s a fire,” said Dawn Doll, who lives in the area and is the mother of a Global News employee. “There’s a few people already out. We were counting: who’s out? Who knows? And then we started hammering on doors.”
Doll and her husband started grabbing garden hoses and sprinklers, wetting anything they could to slow down the fire.
“All you can think about is the people — the people and the animals,” Doll said.
“You’re in shock and you’re hoping everyone has gotten out. It was huge bangs going with it. Huge explosions.”
Fifteen firefighters responded, working up to five hours to extinguish the flames and prevent them from spreading beyond the three homes.
It was still an active scene later Tuesday morning, the town said, and members of the public were asked to avoid the area.
An investigation into the cause will take place once the scene is stabilized.
The news release said the Peace River Fire Department used its new ladder truck at this call, which “proved very beneficial in getting quick control of the fire, despite windy conditions pushing the flames towards other structures.”
The town of Peace River is located in northwestern Alberta, about 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.