A woman had to be rescued from a home after fire broke out at a townhouse fourplex in north Edmonton on Wednesday morning.
Thick, black smoke could be seen billowing from a complex off 82 Street north of 167 Avenue, in the Schonsee area.
David Redman, who lives in the complex, was having his morning coffee when he heard for someone calling for help.
“So I jumped up and I ran down through the units,” he said, adding he found a man standing beside a car on fire. “The house wasn’t on fire but the car was burning and it was fully engulfed.”
He said he ran away to call 911 and when he returned a moment later, the fire had spread.
“The entire unit had caught fire and the fire was coming out of the eaves by that time — and that’s [in] the space of a minute and a half.”
Firefighters responded around 9:30 a.m. to the complex, where each building houses four units. District Chief Martin Prins said crews arrived on scene quickly.
“They were here within two minutes and rescuing the woman who had to be removed right away — that was their first priority, so they did an excellent job on that,” he said on scene, adding no one was injured in the fire. It’s not clear how many people were inside the homes at the time.
The woman who was rescued told Global News she was sleeping when smoke alarms woke her up at about 9:30 a.m.
“I saw the flames coming in through the back window and I slammed my door shut and I ran to the front,” Werkman said. “I punched out the screen of my window and started yelling for help and five firefighters rushed over with a ladder and rushed and got me out.
“It was terrifying. I had never seen anything like that. I stayed calmish until I punched my window out.”
Werkman said while she doesn’t know what the next few days has in store for her, she had already planned to move to Fort McMurray for school next month. She said she was grateful to firefighters for helping her through the ordeal.
“Thank you for getting me out and keeping me calm and just kind of staying with me the whole time.”
READ MORE: Children playing with lighter caused $650K west Edmonton house fire: police
The blaze was upgraded to a three-alarm fire, with 24 fire trucks and dozens of crews on scene.
Prins said four homes in one building were heavily damaged. The backside of the building was gutted and the roof was gone.
At least one damaged vehicle could be seen in the garage below a unit, where the door had burnt away. Prins said the surrounding buildings were not affected by the fire.
As of 11:30 a.m., the fire was under control but had not yet been put out.
The cause of the fire and a damage estimate are not yet available.
–With files from Global News’ Phil Heidenreich
Watch below: A fast-moving townhouse fire in north Edmonton on Wednesday led to a dramatic rescue. Fletcher Kent reports.
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