'A shame that a lot of it is gone': 100 year old Lethbridge garage destroyed by fire
An investigation is underway into the cause of a weekend fire that destroyed one garage, damaged a second, and melted the siding on a nearby house.
Fire crews from three stations responded to a report of a structure fire in the 1200 block of Fourth Avenue S. on Sunday afternoon.
“I heard a loud noise, sounded like an explosion,” said Dave Heatherington, an off-duty firefighter who discovered his neighbour’s garage ablaze when he went out to his backyard to investigate.
Crews arrived on scene and were met with visible smoke and flames coming from a single car garage.
Neighbouring homes on the south side of Fourth Avenue were evacuated as a precautionary measure.
Heatherington — who is a platoon-chief with Lethbridge Fire and EMS — briefly joined in the firefighting effort by helping to connect a hose from the hydrant to one of the fire trucks.
The single car garage where the fire started was completely levelled in about 30 minutes.
Owner Jim Day said the structure was about 100 years old and had originally been used as a stable when his house was built in 1909.
“This is what’s lucky,” added Day, “My wife drove her car out and went shopping less than 20 minutes before the fire started.”
Platoon Chief Shawn Folk said it was fortunate that the wind was not blowing from the west.
“We had a little bit of a north wind,” said Folk. “It pushed toward the south side and caught a house just across the alley.”
The siding on the house was left scorched and blistered by the heat.
Day said the worst part was the damage the fire caused to his neighbours, including Heatherington’s garage next door.
“I know Dave and his brother-in-law have put in two years building that beautiful garage,” said Day. “It’s a shame that a lot of it is gone.”
Heatherington said it was not a big deal.
“It’s all just stuff that can be replaced,” he said, pointing out no one was injured and everyone managed to get their pets out safely.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Signs of Alzheimer’s were everywhere. Then his brain improved
Blood biomarkers of telltale signs of early Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of his patient, 55-year-old entrepreneur Simon Nicholls, had all but disappeared in a mere 14 months.
Flammable kids' sleepwear, salmonella-contaminated chips: Here are the recalls of this week
Health Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued recalls for various items this week, including kids' bassinets, chips, and stoves. Here's what to watch out for.
Lyon-bound Air Canada Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner from Montreal turns back midflight due to pressurization alert
Passengers heading from Montreal to Lyon, France on Friday were forced to return home and depart the next day after a pressurization indication was detected in flight.
U.S. ambassador 'not aware' of any plans for Trudeau-Trump meeting
Canada's Ambassador to the United States says she's 'not aware' of any plans for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet with former U.S. president and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump before the November American election.
Sentencing trial set to begin for Florida man who executed 5 women at a bank in 2019
Zephen Xaver walked into a central Florida bank in 2019, fatally shot five women and then called police to tell them what he did. Now 12 jurors will decide whether the 27-year-old former prison guard trainee is sentenced to death or life without parole.
'How do you get hypothermia in a prison?' Records show hospitalizations among Virginia inmates
The Virginia State Police investigator seemed puzzled about what the inmate was describing: "unbearable" conditions at a prison so cold that toilet water would freeze over and inmates were repeatedly treated for hypothermia.
The secret Italian lakes that most tourists don't know about
Italy has dozens of secret smaller lakes that boast superb scenery, unknown to mass tourism, where locals get together on day trips and enjoy picnics.
Walmart, Costco refusing to sign grocery code of conduct 'untenable': industry minister
Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says it's 'untenable' for 'smaller players' like Walmart and Costco to delay signing on to the government- and industry-led grocery code of conduct, now that industry giant Loblaw has agreed to do so.
Oilers dominate Canucks, win to force deciding Game 7
The Edmonton Oilers avoided elimination from the NHL playoffs Saturday night, beating the visiting Vancouver Canucks 5-1 in Game 6 of their second-round series.