Riverview firefighters were on the scene of a house fire on Hillsborough Road in Riverview, N.B., on Friday.
Fire chief Denis Pleau says they received a call about the fire roughly at 6:30 a.m.
“We arrived on scene, heavy smoke was coming from the basement,” said Pleau.
He said the occupants of the first and second floor were already evacuated, so no one was injured.
However, firefighters were not able to stop the fire after almost five hours, and it has spread throughout the house.
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Pleau said there were about 25 firefighters on scene, and firefighters from Moncton were called as backup.
He believes there were five or six people inside the house before it caught fire.
“One person not accounted for. Right now we have a report that the people upstairs believe they have heard him leave already this morning,” Pleau said.
Brandon Noel, a resident who lives on the house’s main floor, told Global News’ Shelley Steeves that he heard a “fuss” in the basement early on Friday morning, which was then followed by an explosion.
However, it is still unclear if anyone was still in the basement apartment after the fire broke out. Pleau said no investigation has taken place yet.
“Right now we are just trying to control the fire.”
While the Red Cross was on scene helping displaced residents, an excavator was brought in to tear down the home to allow firefighters to safely enter the property to put out the blaze.
The Regional Fire Marshall was called in later in the afternoon, and given the extent of the damage to the home, it’s unclear if the fire is suspicious in nature.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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