At least nine people are looking for a new home after a fire destroyed a house in the northeast Calgary neighbourhood of Rundle.
The Calgary Fire Department said it got the call to a home in the 200 block of Rundlewood Close around 3:40 p.m. Tuesday.
When crews arrived, they were met with heavy smoke and flames coming from the rear of the house.
“All we saw was smoke, flames, a lot of fire trucks, the fence was on fire,” said witness Jolen Digirolamo.
“It was really bad,” his daughter, Addelyn, added.
The fire had also spread into the attic area of a neighbouring home and damaged the exterior of a third home, forcing crews to call in extra resources.
Get breaking National news
“Anytime fires get into the structure of the home itself and gets into any of the trusses and ceiling or the roof, any of the studs or load-bearing walls, that can be very, very problematic,” said CFD public information officer, Alex Kwan.
“We had crews on the outside also putting water on the fire to stop it from extending to the neighbouring homes. So it did require more resources just to make sure that we had enough people and enough water attacking it from different angles.”
Nine men were living in the house where the fire started. It doesn’t appear anyone was inside the home at the time, and no injuries have been reported.
One of the residents, Gideon Mugabe, told Global News that he was at work when the fire started.
“I reached home at 4 p.m. and I found the house burning,” said Mugabe. “We don’t know how the fire started. The person who left last was around 1:20 p.m. He was also going to work and the fire seems to have started around 3 o’clock,” Mugabe added.
Kwan said the initial investigation suggests the fire started on the back deck of the home, but investigators were back on scene Wednesday morning trying to determine the exact origin and cause.
Kwan said the house will likely need to be torn down.
Investigators will also need to determine whether a neighbouring home that was badly damaged is safe for residents to return to.
“Making sure there’s zero toxic levels inside. You know adequate oxygen, no CO or any other toxic gases. So those would (need) to be determined, then they’ll be allowed back in,” said Kwan.
Comments