The Calgary Fire Department (CFD) battled a stubborn two-alarm house fire in the southwest community of Springbank Hill on Wednesday.
Calgary fire said the call came in at around 5 a.m. for a report of a structure fire in the 7200 block of Elkton Drive S.W.
CFD battalion chief Bruce Barrs said the owner of the home got out safely.
“Everyone’s accounted for, [so] there’s no patients or injuries at this time,” he said.
Barrs described the fire as a “stubborn one” and said it was tricky for crews to put out.
WATCH: Firefighters were busy Wednesday morning extinguishing a fire in Calgary’s southwest. Joel Senick details their efforts to save a home with historical significance.
Calgary fire credits the homeowner’s neighbour for initially alerting first responders to the fire. The neighbour smelled something burning and then called 911, CFD said in a Wednesday afternoon news release.
“When he got up to quickly find the source of the odour in his own home, he noticed a glow coming through one of his windows,” CFD said. “When he got closer, he could see flames visible from his neighbour’s second floor and roof.”
The man then called 911. He also phoned his neighbour to try to alert him to the fire at the house, CFD said.
“The occupant of the home, who was awake and on the main level, had heard popping sounds and upon investigation, discovered the fire and safely evacuated prior to CFD arrival,” fire said.
The fire was declared under control at around 7:20 a.m. and no neighbouring homes were damaged in the incident, CFD said.
The home is also know as the Aulock Villa and is listed in the City of Calgary’s inventory of historic buildings. It was built in 1910 and is one of only two homestead houses that exist in the community of Springbank Hill, which was an area of agricultural importance during that time.
“It’s just a really good example of what a homestead of that era looked like and the fact that it’s one of the last remaining ones makes even more historically significant,” Josh Traptow, the Calgary Heritage Authority executive director, said.
“It was built by a German immigrant family that came to Calgary, they built it in a Queen Anne and Dutch colonial revival style so it’s really unique in the fact that it has two styles of architecture.”
The blaze is thought to have started in a second-floor bedroom. The house was equipped with working smoke alarms, but they did not activate right away “due to the initial hidden nature of the fire and smoke,” CFD said.
CFD said the blaze was not considered suspicious and a fire investigator was on scene to find the exact cause of the incident.
On March 19, the CFD confirmed the attic fire was electrical in nature.
WATCH: Video from our Global1 helicopter of a two-alarm fire in Calgary’s southwest on Jan. 2, 2019.
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