Smoke detectors gave five Calgarians enough warning to escape from an early morning house fire in the city’s northwest.
Fire crews responded about 5:30 a.m. Monday to a home on the 100 block of Panamount Street N.W. where they found significant amount of smoke and flames shooting from the roof of the home, said Dist. Chief Garth Schnurer.
“We have significant damage to this one household, but we managed to contain it to just the one house with no exposures to any of the other buildings around it,” he said.
“Thankfully there were working smoke detectors in the house and that’s what alerted the tenants to get out.”
All five people inside the home were able to get out on their own. EMS confirmed to CTV News that an adult man was taken to hospital as a precaution. One dog was also able to get out safely.
A woman inside the house did not want to appear on camera, but said that the fire started in the master bedroom of the home.
Scott Burgher lives three doors down and woke up to loud sirens. When he saw the flames, he woke up his family and started alerting other neighbours in the area.
“It just expanded so fast,” he said.
“The fire started shooting out of the roof, out of two windows and it was just a concerning moment and then all the trucks came and all the neighbours started coming out.”
Clyde Lewis lives right next door to the home that burned. He said the flames came close to his house, but they were quickly put out by firefighters.
“They handled it so professionally and did a great job of containing it so once I saw them at work I knew that we’d be OK,” Lewis said.
“The flames were about (two metres) in the air, the wind wasn’t too strong so thankfully it helped keep it away from my roof in the end.”
The Calgary Police Service assisted on the call by blocking streets. ATCO and Enmax were called in as well to make sure there were no electrical hazards.
Calgary fire says the residents of the home will be displaced for an undetermined amount of time.
A fire investigator is now on scene to search for a cause of the fire.
Neighbours said the same home was also damaged by fire about six years ago.
