Crews battled two large fires north of Calgary Friday night, with blazes in Airdrie and Bearspaw destroying homes but leaving residents unharmed.
First responders were called to the fire in Airdrie’s Woodside neighbourhood at around 6:45 p.m., RCMP said.
A firefighter douses a blaze in Airdrie from above through thick clouds of smoke on Friday, June 17, 2016.
“There was a lot of debris raining down, a lot smoke, a lot of particles in the air,” said Richard Dering, who watched as Rocky View fire crews attempted to douse the flames.
“It was pretty intense.”
That blaze completely destroyed two homes and damaged another, the City of Airdrie reported via Twitter. All of the residents escaped safely, and no one was hurt.
However, Woodside Boulevard, Veterans Boulevard and the Reunion area were closed until further notice as authorities investigated the incident, RCMP said Friday evening. City officials said a reception centre for displaced residents had been set up at Genesis Place.
Firefighters were also on scene in the Watermark development in Bearspaw, where flames completely engulfed another home, said Rocky View County spokesman Grant Kaiser.
“It looks like a total loss at this point,” Kaiser said.
However, no one was home at the time, and no one was hurt in the blaze, Kaiser said.
Philip Love, who saw the incident on Hillside Terrace, just on the outskirts of northwest Calgary, said there were “huge amounts of smoke” as the entire second floor of the house collapsed.
Flames fully engulf a home in Bearspaw on Friday, June 17, 2016.
“There was pretty much nothing left,” he said. “There was enough heat there that I was standing across the street and being pushed back.”
However, neighbours were pitching in to save as much from the home as they possibly could, he said.
“Residents adjacent to the fire were scrambling taking framed photos and valuable items over to helpful neighbors houses for protection,” said Love.
“It’s good to see community members teaming up to look after each other.”
