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Christmas Day fire destroys Bowness home

CALGARY- A Christmas Day house fire has left a home in Bowness badly damaged.

Around 10 p.m. on Wednesday, fire crews were called to the home on Bow Crescent N.W., and arrived to find smoke and flames pouring out of the back of the house.

“We tried an initial aggressive interior attack, but found the conditions were not conducive to fighting the fire that way,” explains Batt. Chief Al Magwood from the Calgary Fire Department. “So we pulled crews back, called a second alarm and [were] working on a defensive fire.”

The four residents had gotten out safely, but two cats were trapped inside.

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Fire crews attacked the blaze, battling heavy smoke, heat and flames. They managed to get it under control and find the pets, who were wet and scared but otherwise unharmed.

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“It really upset me because the people who live in there are older and not well off,” says Paulette McKay, who has known the family for 20 years. “They are good people, really good people.”

She adds that it’s been a tough year for them, with the June flood.

“They were so fortunate that they escaped the flood, the flood was right across the street. They were fortunate to escape that and for this to happen to them a few months later, for their house to be gutted and for them to lose pretty much everything, it’s just very, very sad.

“Bowness came together for the flood, and they’ve been in the community for years and years. Bowness will come together for them as well.”

Two of the residents were taken to hospital for precautionary reasons. Despite extensive damage to the home, neighbouring houses were not impacted.

It’s still not clear what sparked the blaze.

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