One person is dead following a house fire in Calgary’s northwest Dalhousie neighbourhood.
The Calgary Fire Department said at around 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, they received calls about smoke coming from the basement of a home on Dalton Drive N.W.
Firefighters found one person in the basement experiencing an apparent cardiac arrest. They started CPR on the unconscious individual before transferring care of the individual to EMS who were waiting outside.
One man was transported to hospital in critical condition and another person refused care.
Wednesday afternoon, the Calgary Police Service confirmed the person taken to hospital died. Police investigators are now working to identify the man’s identity and next of kin.
“Fire doubles in size every 30 seconds and so it doesn’t take long for smoke to build up and we know that the smoke from a host fire is incredibly toxic, and just a couple of breaths will render you incapable of self rescue,” CFD public information officer Carol Henke said.
“When fire crews arrived they also didn’t hear any alarms activating, so that will be part of the investigation as well to see if this home did in fact have working smoke alarms.”
Henke said there was “significiant damage” to the basement.
Fire investigators will be helping determine the cause and origin of the fire.
Henke noted four cats which were known to be in the house “did not make it” despite resuscitation efforts.
Crews were checking the entire house for hotspots and shut off utilities to the building.
CFD are asking anyone with photos or video of the fire are asked to send them to piofire@calgary.ca.
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