A dozen people have been displaced from their residences after a massive fire ripped through several townhomes in the southeast Calgary community of Seton on Saturday night.
Crews with Calgary fire were called shortly before 9:30 p.m. for reports of a structure fire in the 200 block of Union Avenue Southeast, where three townhomes were engulfed by flames.
While they were en route, a second alarm was called in for support.
The on-call battalion chief has confirmed that no one was injured in the fire but did say someone was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation by Calgary EMS. Two of the homes were destroyed.
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Rylan Wheeler was at home when he heard his fire alarm go off around 9:15 p.m.
“I heard a bunch of ringing on my doorbell and knocking and … left my room and saw that the other end of my house was already up in flames. I ran out,” Wheeler said.
Reynan Mendoza also lives on Union Avenue, a few houses down from where the fire was. He was lying in bed when his son alerted him to the fire down the street.
“Me and my wife gathered all documents and, like, important things,” Mendoza said.
“We went outside, then the police came. They blocked all the roads here and then they asked us from our house to the end of the street to evacuate,” he said.
According to Calgary fire, several cats and dogs were rescued by firefighters; however, one dog was found dead inside one of the homes.
Investigators with Calgary fire were at the scene Sunday who believe the fire started somewhere in the back end of the source townhome, but could not confirm how it started.
Several GoFundMe fundraisers and donation initiatives have been started to help the displaced residents.
“Seton is so tight-knit,” Wheeler said.
“It’s sad that it’s the first time I met a lot of my neighbours, but it seemed like the way they acted, I had already known them for around 10 years.”
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