Family escapes house fire in north Edmonton: ‘All I could think about was getting my kids out’

More than a dozen people were displaced after a fire in north Edmonton early Wednesday.

A fire broke out in a duplex in the area of 122 Avenue and 77 Street in the Elmwood Park neighbourhood. A spokesperson with Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said the call came in around 3:40 a.m. and crews arrived on scene at the fire at the two-storey duplex at 3:45 a.m.

Six fire crews were called to the scene, according to Brittany Lewchuk.

Tamara Ostaszewski said she and her husband were sleeping when her 13-year-old daughter woke them up.

“It was horrible. My 13-year-old daughter woke us up, screaming that our house was on fire,” she said early Wednesday, as she and her husband sat on the ground wrapped in blankets watching the fire crews battle the blaze.

“Her six-month-old sister was asleep in the crib in our room. Her two-year-old sister and her brother were in the room next to her.”

2:22 Family escapes house fire in north Edmonton

Ostaszewski said her daughter noticed the flames engulfing her window.

“She came to get us and if she didn’t come to get us, our youngest would have been dead because the smoke would have just engulfed her lungs. She wouldn’t have made it.”

Ostaszewski said she doesn’t know how or exactly when the fire started, but believes it originated at the back of the duplex on her neighbour’s side. She said her entire family, including four cats, were able to make it out of the house safely.

Ostaszewski rents the main floor and upstairs of one side of the duplex. She said she saw the family who lives in the other side of the duplex outside as well.

Ostaszewski doesn’t have insurance, but said that’s not what matters right now.

“All I could think about was getting my kids out, that’s it. That’s all that mattered,” she said. “Everything else is replaceable, but my kids and my family aren’t.

“All I keep thinking is, ‘What if (my daughter) didn’t wake us up? What if she wasn’t there? What if she didn’t wake up?’

“She’s a hero. If it wasn’t for her, we wouldn’t have made it out.”

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Lewchuk said one man was assessed on scene by EMS and everyone in the duplex made it out safely.

The fire was brought under control by 4:51 a.m. and extinguished by 5:37 a.m., Lewchuk said.

The Emergency Support Response Team was called in to provide temporary accommodations to the 11 people who lived in the duplex, as well as seven people who lived in a neighbouring unit that suffered extensive fire and water damage.

Lewchuk said fire investigators will return to the scene on Thursday to complete the investigation. Damages are pegged at $350,000 — $300,000 to the structure and $50,000 to the contents of the building.