Fire officials say that two detached garages have been destroyed and at least one home has been damaged in a fire in the northeast Calgary community of Skyview Ranch on Saturday.
Crews were called to the scene, in the 200 block of Skyview Springs Garden N.E. at about 11:45 a.m. for reports of a garage fire.
Additional crews were called when the flames spread to another garage.
"Crews were able to quickly knock down the fire and then upon the investigation, we also noticed there was exposure damage to five houses to the north of the garages," said CFD Battalion Chief Stu Laird.
A number of residents managed to get out on their own and there were no reported injuries.
"We were forced to evacuate four homes and out of those four homes, approximately 12 people and two pets were evacuated. We have since let some of those homes reoccupy."
Isabelle Lane, who lives right across the alley from the home affected by the fire, said that the fire started in one garage and spread quickly to the one next to it.
"My grandfather came upstairs and told me that there was a fire, so I rushed downstairs and saw it, so I called 911 and then I called my parents."
She says that she was pretty scared because she was at home with her grandparents at the time.
"I was kind of panicking, but I knew that I needed to call 911 and get them out."
Officials say in addition to the two garages, three vehicles were destroyed and seven homes were damaged to varying degrees.
One of the residents of the affected homes was at work when he was told about the fire.
"My wife and kids got out and they saw that the garage was burning. They told me that is it's a bad day because we have a fire," said Pushwinder Goraya.
The back of his house, deck, garage and SUV were all destroyed.
"It's a big amount of damage but the fire truck came on time and they covered it."
He says he doesn't know when they'll be allowed to go home.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
