A house has been destroyed after an early morning fire in north Lethbridge. A neighbour’s garage also suffered severe damage.
Firefighters were called around 3 a.m. to the blaze on Lettice Perry Road.
Deneen Stock said her boyfriend Eddy Bisschop was driving home from work after a night shift. He saw smoke coming from the rear of a house just a few doors down from his house and called 911.
“He waited until the police came. They did a knock on the door and then tried to break the door down.”
She came outside when he called her and told her what happened. She said it was scary watching the fire, and loud bangs could be heard, like small explosions.
“The garage was fully engulfed in flames and it didn’t take long for the house to start too.”
All four fire stations, a total of 18 firefighters, responded and fought to get the fire under control.
Marc Royer, a fire investigator with Lethbridge Fire and EMS, said seven or eight homes were damaged by heat or fire.
“Police were quickly on scene after the first callers and before the fire trucks got here they had already evacuated, I understand, the surrounding homes,” added Royer.
The house on the property was destroyed, along with the detached garage. A garage beside it was also destroyed, along with the vehicles inside it. The garage on the other side suffered significant damage.
A cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it’s believed it started in or near the detached garage or in an RV parked next to it.