Early-morning fire rips through 3 south Edmonton homes

Thirteen people have been displaced after an early-morning fire in south Edmonton.

Fire crews were called to the blaze in the area of 59 Street and 10 Avenue SW at around 2 a.m. Monday. Fire crews said the blaze started in one house and quickly spread to two neighbouring homes because of strong wind gusts.

“It was a major factor,” District Chief Brian Dewan said of the wind. “Between the origin of the call at 2:04 it was two minutes before we called the second alarm… It was that big of a fire.”

Watch below: Families were forced out of three homes early Monday morning due to fire. Kendra Slugoski has the details. 

Sushil Kalia lives across the street and said the smell of smoke woke him up. When he looked outside and saw flames, he immediately dialled 911 and started alerting his neighbours.

Dishant Mistry, his wife and two young children live in the third home that caught fire. Mistry said he received a phone call from Kalia alerting him to the fire. He grabbed a few documents and his family and they ran out of the home barefoot, with just the clothes on their backs.

“All I could see when I woke up was a flame coming up from my bedroom window. When I came out it was flames and light,” Mistry explained. “My wife called other neighbours as well and these guys called other neighbours to wake them up and be ready in case anything happened.

“The firefighters did a good job otherwise it would be worse.”

Dewan said 42 firefighters from 14 units were called to battle the blaze. Everyone who lives in the homes has been accounted for and no one was injured.

The fire was brought under control in all three homes shortly before 6 a.m.

“All three houses are uninhabitable right now,” Dewan said.

Watch below: Aerial footage of the aftermath of a house fire in south Edmonton early Monday morning, taken from the Global 1 news helicopter. 

At this time it’s not known what started the fire or what the cost of the damage might be.