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Inglewood home destroyed by fire

Fire destroyed one home on Inglewood Drive and damaged another two homes located on either side on Tuesday afternoon.
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Fire destroyed one home on Inglewood Drive and damaged another two homes located on either side on Tuesday afternoon.

Greg Adair, deputy fire chief with Red Deer Emergency Services, said the house at 127 Inglewood Drive was fully engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived after the 911 came in at 4:32 p.m.

“The residents were in the house when the fire started. There were five people in the house. They safely all evacuated,” Adair said on Tuesday at the scene.

He said flames were coming out of the roof and it took fire crews some time to get them under control.

Crews were almost done shooting water onto the house to knock out hot spots at 5:30 p.m.

“Fortunately the fire did not progress into the house to the east. The potential to spread into that house was pretty good.”

If there had been a strong wind during the fire, more homes could have been affected, he said.

Flames did burn the side of 123 Inglewood Drive, to the east. Some of the siding on the house to the west, at 131 Inglewood Drive, melted from the heat.

“It was so hot here,” said Albert Briones, who lives in the neighbourhood and was one of about 50 people gathered across the street watching the firefighters work.

Briones said people don’t expect homes that are only a few years old to go up in flames.

Adair said the middle house was a complete write-off.

Most of the burned, exterior walls were still standing, but the roof was gone.

A vehicle parked inside the front-attached garage was destroyed and a car in the driveway was also damaged.

Adair said the cause of the fire, and where the fire originated, was under investigation.

“There’s so much fire damage, we won’t put our crews in this house for safety reasons. They will be on scene for quite a while ensuring all the hot spots are out, ensuring it’s safe, investigating the house.”

Joanna Matyka, who lives in Inglewood, said she saw thick, brown smoke in the sky as she was driving home from work and she could tell it was serious fire.

She felt bad for the people who lost their home.

Coincidently, her four-year-old twins Natalia and Lukasz, happened to be wearing their Halloween costumes so they came dressed as firefighters to the scene of the fire.

“What an experience. This is quite something to see for little children.”

szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com