Calgary firefighters were called to a house fire in the community of Springbank Hill twice on Tuesday after the blaze flared up once again in the evening.
Flames first broke out at the Spring Valley Place S.W. home at around 2 p.m.
Calgary Fire Department (CFD) district fire Chief Bruce Kinnell said they were called by a passerby who spotted smoke coming from the home.
When they arrived, the fire so intense firefighters couldn’t immediately enter the home because the main floor was compromised.
A family of four lives in the house, but none of the residents were home when the fire started.
Homeowner Sasha Cesto says she he was alerted to the fire by a phone call from the fire department at around 2 p.m.
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Hours later, at around 7 p.m., crews were called back to the home after the fire started up again.
“They noticed a hot spot in one of the walls,” Cesto said. “By the time they got a ladder truck out here it was too late, it had already got up into the attic and blew through the roof.”
“It got pretty bad,” witness Ivan Grekov said. “The roof started caving in.”
CFD district Chief Linley Biblow said the fire was “deep-seated within the structure.”
“It’s proved to be a difficult fire to safely fight,” he added.
“It’s no fault of their own – they did a bang-up job.”
Cesto said watching his home burn twice was hard to handle.
“To watch it twice, that’s definitely… it’s a bit surreal. I think it hasn’t really set in yet.”
“It’s like I’m in a dream. I don’t really feel like it’s real yet.”
Cesto said the home was built in 2009.
Firefighters were able to rescue two pet rabbits from the home but some family cats were not able to be saved.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
With files from Doug Vaessen
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