Calgary firefighters kept busy with 2, multi-home blazes

Calgary firefighters were kept busy Saturday, battling two separate blazes that damaged several homes.

The first left three homes in thenorthwestneighbourhood of Country Hills so badly damaged they will likely have to be demolished.

Fire, police and EMS were called to the scene of a multi-home fire inthe 400 block of Country Hills Drive N.W. shortly before 10a.m.

The fire initially started in one home and spread to the houses on either side.

The Calgary Fire Department quickly evacuated neighbouringhomes on all sides of the burning houses.

Darris Wilderman was at home just down the street from where the fire started when he got a call from his dad telling him about the fire.

"He just said, 'you've got to get out' so I immediately grabbed my mom and I said, 'let's go, there's a fire.' I ran to the back door and sure enough the fire was right there, it was right in the back alley."

Wilderman recorded the fire and posted it to social media.

"I was getting so close, I felt the heat from the blaze on my face," he said.

The house where the fire startedsuffered the most damage, according to Battalion Chief Bruce Barrs. He said the other two homes are probably not salvageable.

A femaleneighbour who had been helping outwas transported to hospital due to smoke inhalation.

No one from the three homes that caught fire were injured, although Barrs said two cats are currently missing.

An investigator has been brought in to determine a cause of the blaze.

About 5:30 p.m. firefighters were called to another blaze in the 200 block of Coral Springs Circle N.E. Crews arrived to find flames shooting from the roof of a home.

Winds were gusting at more than 40 km/h at the time, said BattalionChief Stu Laird.

"It does make some of our fire operations more challenging," he said.

"We have to get that exposure control in place so it doesn't spread beyond the buildings that have already been hit."

The flames also damaged a neighbouring home.

• MORE CALGARY NEWS|Lakeview Community Association wants to block traffic from Tsuut'ina First Nation
• MORE CALGARY NEWS|Rail bridge removal on Glenmore Trail will restrict traffic on long weekend