A family of three was checked by EMS early Monday after waking up to smoke and running out of their Balwin-area home.
A fire destroyed the home and garage near 72 Street and 129 Avenue in northeast Edmonton.
Edmonton Fire Rescue Services received a call at 5:09 a.m. Five units were dispatched, with the first unit arriving on scene at 5:16 a.m.
Tenant Emily Flegg said she woke up at around 5:30 a.m. to the smell of smoke.
“I immediately woke my husband up … and I told him, ‘Our house smells like smoke. I think it’s on fire.’ We woke up and we checked the back of our house and, sure enough, it was on fire,” Flegg said.
“I told him, ‘Go get dad! Get the animals. We need to leave,'” she said. “We ran out and immediately called the fire department.”
They were able to rescue their dog and one cat but a second cat is so far unaccounted for.
“I was in shock that our house was on fire,” Flegg said.
“I was sitting there thinking, ‘Where are we going to live?’ And hoping that our cat was OK.”
Flegg’s husband recalled being woken up by his wife and smelling smoke.
“As I’m looking for my animals, I get to the back deck … and my back door was lit up in flames,” Derk Gross said.
He’s very thankful she woke up when she did.
“Otherwise, we’d probably be dead.”
Flegg was also able to wake up and alert her father Michael, who was sleeping in another room.
“My daughter came to the room, really briefly, and said: ‘Dad, you have to wake up. There’s smoke in the house,'” Michael Spofford said.
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“I was wondering what was going on. She said, ‘The back porch is on fire.’
“The back door goes up in flames and that was it,” he said.
When fire crews arrived, there were lots of flames coming from the detached garage, the fire captain said.
“When the fire attack crew got to the back of the house, they informed me that there was another detached garage on the adjacent property that was on fire,” Capt. Kevin Espetveidt said.
“It definitely was at the back of the house. I can’t really say how it was started or where it originally started until investigators get in and check it out. But it was definitely at the back of the property and then kind of made its way to the house. The garage was kind of the main fire.
“The fire basically had gone from this garage up into the roof of the house and the only way to get at that fire was to cut a few holes in the roof and pull a lot of the ceiling down while you’re inside,” Espetveidt said.
Since the residents got out safely, the focus was on attacking the fire and protecting exposures, he said.
There was a large RV in the back of the neighbouring property.
“By the time we had got here, we didn’t really notice the RV because it had burned nearly to the ground.”
It was James Chaulker’s RV.
“I’m pretty disappointed. Our trailer was like brand new, it was immaculate. It’s not that way anymore.
“We went camping once with it.”
He said his home has a little bit of damage to the siding but the garage and trailer “got the worst of it.”
Chaulker said he’s glad no one was hurt but the loss is hard to process.
“You work hard to buy stuff that you can enjoy and then it’s gone within a matter of minutes.”
He has security video of the morning fire.
“That’s been turned over to the police and the fire department for them to look at and analyze.”
The fire was declared out at 8:25 a.m.
No one needed to be taken to hospital, an EFRS spokesperson said.
“The cause of this fire is under investigation and the extent of the damage is yet to be determined.”
The family said this isn’t the first time there have been issues at this property. Since they moved in about six months ago, their home has been broken into and their dog was attacked.
Fire crews were notified about another fire about three kilometres west of the Balwin fire prior to this house fire.
EFRS received a call at 4:10 a.m. reporting a house fire near 94 Street and 129B Avenue, in the Delton/Delwood area. Five units were dispatched, with the first unit arriving on scene at 4:14 a.m.
The fire was called under control at 4:57 a.m.
“One person was removed from the house and was medically assessed on scene, but did not require transport to the hospital,” an EFRS spokesperson said.
“Crews are still on scene and the cause of this fire is under investigation. The extent of the damage is yet to be determined.”
There is no indication the two fires are related.
An Edmonton fire investigator told Global News they were busy Monday morning.
“That really stresses our crews out for any kind of replacement when you’re in a district like this,” Espetveidt said.
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