Edmonton firefighters battle, lack of hydrants, cold temperature and fire

A home on the outskirts of Edmonton was badly damaged by a fire on Friday morning.

Edmonton firefighters arrived at a house fire at 258 Avenue and 18 Street at around 8:45 a.m.

District Chief Todd Weiss said the house was engulfed and the flames had gone through the roof when crews arrived.

“There’s no hydrant service in this part of the city so we have three tankers that are faring water from approximately six kilometres away, so it makes the firefighting battle a little bit longer,” Weiss said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's no hydrant service in this part of the city so we have three tankers that are faring water from approximately six kilometres away, so it makes the firefighting battle a little bit longer," Weiss said.

READ MORE: Crews battle massive house fire in north Edmonton

Watch below: Firefighters faced a number of challenges as they battled a blaze in north Edmonton on Friday.

1:04 Firefighters battle blaze at home near Sturgeon County

Due to having to use the tankers for water supply, Weiss said it would take about two hours to extinguish the blaze rather than the typical 30 minutes to one hour for the fire of its size.

“We’ve ordered a track hoe to pull apart the structure so we can get at the fire because the roof is already caved in and it’s already collapsing into the basement,” Weiss said.

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The cold temperature created an additional challenge for firefighters.

“We have a lack of water supply in this area when the hoses are susceptible to freezing so we have to watch for that as well,” the district chief said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We have a lack of water supply in this area when the hoses are susceptible to freezing so we have to watch for that as well," the district chief said.

READ MORE: Fatal Edmonton group home fire ‘was accidental’; cause undetermined

There was nobody in the home at the time of the fire, which appeared to be under renovation, according to Weiss.

Fire crews were expected to remain on scene until Friday evening.

The cause of the fire is not yet known.