Two homes in Cochrane, west of Calgary, have been destroyed and two others have been damaged in an early morning fire on Monday.
At about 2 a.m. the Cochrane Fire Department was called to a fire in the community of Sunrise.
Two off-duty firefighters, who live nearby, called in the fire and then immediately got to work warning residents and telling them to get out of their homes.
When fire crews got to the scene, they found two homes fully involved in fire.
The department needed to call in help from other departments to contain the blaze and prevent other homes from catching fire.
One of the residents of the homes which was less damaged in the fire says that the fire alarm inside her home did not go off.
There were no flames inside her home - just smoke and heat.
"I looked out the window and caught my reflection of the fire off the showhome windows across the street, and I just grabbed my daughter, dog, and my husband and I just got out of the house."
Officials say two other homes suffered damage, but were saved from destruction by a fire wall separating the two units of the duplexes.
Without the fire wall, both homes likely would have been completely destroyed.
“We have severe water damage in the two outside homes, so that will take some time to assess. The other two will have to be rebuilt,” said Chief David Humphrey with Cochrane Fire.
No one was injured as a result of the fire.
