Woodbine home struck by fire, for a second time

About 100,000 litres of precious water had to be used to fight a fire in the Calgary community of Woodbine on Wednesday night.

Five people in two suites are now homeless, though no one was injured.

However, this is the second time the home has been involved in a devastating fire.

In 2021, fire at a neighbour's house spread, to destroy both homes.

When the first fire burned her home, Brenda Delauw lived in Medicine Hat and was renting it out.

When fire broke out a second time at 9 p.m. on Wednesday night, she got a call from her neighbour saying it's happening again.

"It was much harder, much harder, watching the fire this time than last time, knowing that I would lose all, maybe even pictures of my granddaughter and my child, and it was very difficult and I'm much more upset about this. Not the cosmetic part of it, but just more shaken up," Delauw said.

Daryl Colpitts lives a few houses away.

When he learned Delauw wasn't home, he knew he had to act.

"There wasn't much time, so a bunch of neighbours are saying that Brenda's cat was still in there and Brenda wasn't home of course, so we went in ... kick the door down and three of us entered," Colpitts said.

"Another neighbour, another gentleman who I'm not sure who he was, but we went in and we searched for the cat.

"We eventually found the cat upstairs and we were able to retrieve her and bring her out."

The Calgary Fire Department had their hands full with the blaze that started in the back of the home and quickly spread.

No one was home upstairs and the basement tenants escaped just in time.

The city says close to 100,000 litres of water were used to put the fire out, but on average it takes six to 10 times that amount.

"This is a great reminder for us to ensure our first responders have the water that they need to respond to public health and safety situations while we are all making this effort to conserve water," said Calgary Emergency Management Agency chief, Sue Henry.

Delauw says she's thankful her home only received minor damage this time.

"And my heart goes out to the tenants and I know the last time, Woodbine came together for the tenants of the fire … because they were three young people and Woodbine was spectacular and in helping fundraise and doing everything they could," Delauw said.

On Thursday, the downstairs tenants came by to collect whatever they could from their home, but it wasn't much.

They moved in just over a month ago.

They say there's a lot of smoke damage in the basement, along with water dripping out of the light fixtures.

The homeowner was also there Thursday to see the damage.

It's the second time he's had to do this in just three years.

He was at a loss for his bad luck, but he did say the home is insured.