A dangerous fire and an act of heroism were on display at a house in Kingston’s west end Wednesday.
It was a terrifying scene after a fire ignited inside a home on a busy corner along Davis Drive.
“I noticed there was smoke coming from the garage and I thought ‘oh ,that doesn’t seem right’ so I stopped at the mailboxes at the corner,” said Gillian Brooks-Halligan, a neighbour who was among the first to notice the thick black smoke billowing from the house’s garage.
Brooks-Halligan has lived in the west-end neighbourhood for about 25 years and she said she’s never seen anything like this.
“The smoke was really beginning to billow out of the garage so I immediately called 9-1-1 and started running,” she added.
She said she noticed two vehicles in the driveway, but no one outside and started screaming for help.
Within moments two men, who happened on the scene, entered the house to look for people inside.
A family of three and their two cats were all brought to safety.
“Luckily, those guys did run in because the one homeowner was sleeping, the other one was in the shower, so they were unaware,” said Brooks-Halligan.
Kingston Fire and Rescue has pegged the damage at $125,000.
“The fire damage was contained to the garage area. There was some smoke damage in the house and that was just due to the door between the garage and the house being open,” said Ted Posadowski, Chief Fire Prevention Officer for Kingston.
The house is beloved in the city, affectionately known as “The Christmas House” due to its elaborate Christmas light displays every year.
“It’s the Christmas house, right. It brings a lot of people by. That’ll be sad, because that won’t happen this Christmas,” said Brooks-Halligan.
The homeowners say they’re still in a state of shock, but are extremely thankful for the support of the community.
Posadowski says that the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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