A man has died after a Thursday morning fire at a townhouse in southeast Calgary, according to a spokesperson for the city’s fire department.
Firefighters were called to a residence on Pensville Close S.E. just before 7:30 a.m. They found a man inside a room who had sustained burns.
A spokesperson for EMS told Global News the man was taken to Foothills Medical Centre in life-threatening condition.
A Calgary Fire Department spokesperson later confirmed the man died and said his injuries appeared to be related to the fire.
“When fire crews arrived, they had to force entry into a bedroom because it was locked,” said Carole Henke, a public information officer with the CFD. “Inside they found a male… unconscious (and) unresponsive. He had significant burns.”
Although the home had more than one working smoke alarm, Henke said she does not believe the bedroom that the man was found in had one.
“That can be a problem if the fire starts inside a bedroom and the door is closed. The fire builds and builds and not a lot of the smoke migrates out… to where a smoke alarm (is).”
Henke said she believes there was a second person at the home when the fire broke out who first smelled the smoke.
She added that fire investigators are looking into what caused the blaze but noted it does not appear to be suspicious.
“It’s just tragic,” Henke said. “(It) was actually a fairly small fire in the scheme of things… but the smoke created from a fire like this is so dangerous and can ultimately be fatal.”
Henke said the death marked the second fire-related fatality in Calgary in 2023.
–With files from Craig Momney, Global News