Crews battle house fire in Mahogany in southeast Calgary

A Calgary family is worried for the safety of the family cat after a fire ripped through their home in the southeast community of Mahogany.

All six family members got out safely after the blaze broke out in the early hours of Friday morning, but their cat has not been located so far.

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"Two adults and four children who were home sleeping at the timewere alerted to thefirebyworking smoke alarmsand safely evacuated prior to arrival offirecrews," the fire department said in a statement.

'Thick black smoke'

Crews spent several hours trying to douse the fire onMahogany View S.E., only getting it under control at about 7:30 a.m.

"On arrival, firefighters saw flames and thick black smoke coming from the house...Firefighters mounted an aggressive interior attack until conditions deteriorated and socrews changed tactics and fought thefiredefensively from the exterior," the statement said.

Eight nearby homes were evacuated, but crews were able to stop the fire from spreading to neighbouring houses.

Batallion Chief Allan Ball says the home is severely damaged, if not a complete writeoff.

"The walls are still standing... but [early] reports from our crews is there is not a lot of floor left. It has all collapsed into the basement," Ball said.

Smoke from the blaze,which was called inaround 4:10 a.m. Friday, could be seen from Stoney Trail.

Investigators are trying to determine the cause of the fire.

Meanwhile, neighbours woke up to the "scary" sceneand captured these images.