Fire destroyed three houses on my street

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday the 26th), I went out to a local sports bar. I had been there about an hour, when my next-door neighbours walked in. They spotted me, and asked if I knew about the fire at the end of the street. I didn’t, and wondered how safe our houses were. They assured me that we were both fine, the fire department was there, and we’re far enough down the street (at least a dozen houses between ours and the site of the fire) that the fire department should have things under control with little danger to houses farther down the street, like ours.

Reassured, I went back to my beer and the game. When I returned home a couple of hours later, the fire was out, but there were still fire trucks and hoses all over the street. Lots of flashing lights on the emergency vehicles. The gas company was there, I guess to make sure the gas lines were turned off to the affected houses. I wandered up, and spoke with a couple of firefighters who were standing there. One explained that the fire started in that house–he pointed–and the winds carried it to the next door one, and then to the next one. Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to the next house in line. Neither of them knew the cause, but the fire marshal would investigate and determine that.

We did have strong winds yesterday. Not unusual in this part of Alberta, at any time of year.

The fire marshal and his team (I guess) were there until midafternoon today. When they left, I went to see the damage.

It was extensive. Pretty much all that remained of the first house was the garage; the rest was a pile of charred rubble. The roof of the second had caved in. Part of the roof of the third was gone. The first two houses were surrounded by that “quickie fencing” you can rent for around construction sites and such, the sites were that dangerous.

I spotted the neighbour who owns the house that was saved, and spoke with him. Yes, the firefighters worked hard to save his house while fighting the fire in the other two. But he felt that all three would have to be torn down. The first and second are beyond restoration; the third was so unstable that firefighters didn’t dare to go in, they just dumped water in from above through the hole in the roof that the fire had made. “So the basement is probably full of water.”

The incident made the local TV news, and all day today, we had cars slowly driving by to have a look. The news did say that another house in the neighbourhood, which has elaborate Christmas decorations (think Clark Griswold), that annually accepts donations for a charity, was going to accept donations for the displaced families going forward. Gift cards, whatever can help, they’ll take it and make sure that it gets to where it needs to go.

My neighbourhood is usually quite quiet. It sure wasn’t yesterday.

2

Wow!
So glad you and your house are safe.

3

Oh that is awful. Were all the residents of the three houses safe? And good on the fundraiser.

4

Yes. The news said that everybody got out in time, and nobody was injured. I don’t believe that any of the three families had pets, but if they did, there was no mention that any pets’ lives were lost. Small comfort, I suppose. But at least nobody was killed or hurt.

Oh, I should add that the news estimated that damage amounted to about $2 million.

5

@Spoons I’m glad you and your house are safe! Also glad that nobody was harmed in the fire.

6

I feel like it’s rare these days for a house to burn down to the ground (outside of wildfires). They normally manage to be put out before they get to that point.

When I was a child, our house burned down, and we lost everything. It was quite dizzying that it can happen so quickly, and changed our lives so immediately. But communities usually are very sympathetic and rally support, so I have hope things will right themselves for those affected through their help.

7

Yikes! Glad you’re safe.

How far apart were the houses? Was the wind unusually high?
Sorry, just curious.

8

I’d guess that the houses would have been about eight to ten feet apart.

As for the wind being unusually high, it depends on one’s definition of “unusual.” Here in southern Alberta, wind is normal. It is rare to get a day without wind. And the winds can get quite high—unusually so, to someone from Toronto (as I originally am), but not unusual at all to someone originally from here. Still, they presented firefighters with a challenge:

Full news report here:

9

Really glad your home is unaffected and that you are okay. I’m sorry your neighbors suffered their losses, though. Fires are so scary and unpredictable.

10

Same here, but with us it was an apartment. Somehow the contents of one closet made it, so I still have some baby pictures (etc.), but everything else was a total loss…including our cat.

11

Wow, my condolences to your neighbors. I am relieved that the firefighters were able to save the rest of the homes. Yeah, high prairie winds can be terrible, as they rush down or along the mountains. Glad you are okay.

12

We do fire rebuilds - when its reasonable. Smoke damage alone can be devastating. When a house goes up it is shocking how quickly it can spread to neighbours. Often the home we fix is the neighbour as the home where it started is beyond repair.

Stucco or Hardie Board are more resistant, vinyl goes quickly and cedar siding is kindling. The fire catching from the side of the home runs up quickly into the roof.
New homes no longer have soffit venting and that slows the fire down a bit, but roofs go up fast.

I suit up and put on my respirator when inspecting, very stinky very messy. Its pretty sobering to see the devastation.

Check your smoke detectors. Make sure bedroom windows are reasonable exits. Get a blanket and or extinguisher for the kitchen. Don’t install a double cylinder deadbolt.

13

I love family history, so losing the pics would be awful. But even though one knows a pet is temporary I’d rather have it saved than die in pain.

14

Maybe ten years ago, a grass fire, driven by wind, was bearing down on my side of town. TV and radio news told us that we might need to evacuate. So, having cats at the time, I got the cats isolated in the kitchen, got the cat carriers, and prepared a bug-out bag if the worst happened.

Let’s see … bag of cat kibbles, some food and water bowls, a litter pan (clean), maybe 20 lbs. of litter … I’m sure I’ve forgotten something, but what could it be?

Oh yeah. Stuff for me. I was more worried about my cats than myself.

(In the end, no evacuation was necessary. But I was ready. Sort of. At least, I made sure that my cats were ready.)

15

Update:

The remains of the houses have been demolished. The last one came down over the weekend. All that remains is level ground. Even the foundations have been removed and filled in.

“No Trespassing” signs have been posted, but there’s nothing except dirt to trespass on, so no real reason to trespass upon it.

I don’t know the cause of the fire, and nobody in the neighbourhood seems to either, but I suppose that the fire marshal and the insurance companies do.

No idea whether new houses will appear.

16

Did that include the house that was “saved”?

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That would have been House Number 4. Yes, it was saved, and does not need demolishing. Maybe some cosmetic work, but that’s it. Easily covered by insurance.

When I spoke with firefighters that day, they mentioned that they made every effort to save House Number 4, especially when they saw that House Number 3 was toast (no pun intended). And they succeeded. I also spoke with the owner of House Number 4 (remember, he’s a neighbour, just down the street), who was grateful that the fire department put so much effort into saving his house. Me too, as it is only about eight houses between his and mine; and given the winds we had that day, the fire could have easily spread right down the block.

I paid my annual property taxes last week. At first, I grumbled, but then I remembered how much work the fire department put into containing this fire that threatened our neighbourhood. Then, I happily paid the taxes. I’m getting good value for money, if the local fire department can act as well as we saw.