An early-morning blaze that demolished three homes and damaged two others on Sisson Avenue on Friday is likely to cost upwards of a $1-million.
The inferno originated from a home under construction and spread to two homes on either side in Red Deer’s Southbrook neighbourhood.
It was terrifying and horrifying, said a neighbour.
The Red Deer woman who asked not to be named said on Friday that her dog woke her up around 3 a.m. and she could see a orange glow through her windows. She raced to her children’s bedroom to look out the window and was shocked to see that a home directly across the street was engulfed in flames.
“I ran to call 911 and when I got back up the stairs, the fire department was already here.
“It was terrifying and then you worry about those people, did they get out? I know they did now but there was a moment of horror and terror at the same time.”
Red Deer Emergency Services platoon chief Randy Kidd said crews arrived on scene — in the residential area in southeast Red Deer — after getting the call shortly after 3 a.m.
The middle house, which was under construction and estimated to be worth about $400,000 upon completion, was fully engulfed in flames.
The fire spread to two relatively new, two-storey homes, one on each side.
Red Deer RCMP arrived a short time later and assisted with the evacuation of people in neighbouring residences.
All the occupants made it out safely and no injuries were reported. Kidd said the families are staying with relatives at this time.
“The fire did spread fast,” he said at the scene on Friday.
“We are not sure what state of construction the middle house was in but exposed wood would make it spread quicker.”
Firefighters are thankful that it was not an overly windy morning as they fought to save other nearby homes, which suffered exterior damage.
“This was fortunate because it could have been worse than it did end up,” Kidd said.
About 18 firefighters had the blaze under control by 4:53 a.m.
Later Friday, crews were still on scene trying to determine the cause of the fire and were extinguishing hot spots. Nothing was left of the home that was under construction.
Kidd said it is too soon to speculate on the cause of the fire. Arson has not been ruled out but was not identified as the source.
“I hope it is not arson,” said the nearby neighbour. “You never want that in your neighbourhood.”
A family of four lived in the home to the north and three people lived in the home to the south. Damage to these two residences was so extreme that they will likely need to be torn down, Kidd said.
The neighbour said the family of three moved into their home only a couple of weeks ago.
Stacy Pickard, who previously worked with the company Landmark Homes, had a hand in building the home on the north side. She said the house is worth about $580,000.
She also knows the family, with two children, who lived in the now-destroyed home.
She said they would have taken possession of their home six to eight months ago.
“My friend called me this morning and she knew that I helped build that house for them. I have been crying all morning — I just want to know that they are OK.
“They are wonderful people,” she said as tears rolled down her face.
Terry and Diane Kulczycki were to take possession of their home on July 3. It was located beside the home that was destroyed on the south side. Their home is still standing and intact but has severe siding damage.
“We have some friends who live behind here who called us at 3:15 a.m. and said, ‘Your house is on fire,’ so we got dressed and came down here,” Terry said.
“It was a ball of flames. You could see from way back and we were quite concerned because it looked like half the neighbourhood was in flames.
“They were doing everything they could to save our house,” said the Kulczyckis, who were thanking fire investigators on scene.
By late afternoon, platoon chief Pat Mulroney said investigators still hadn’t determined the cause. He didn’t expect that they would know what happened until Monday.
“They’re still investigating it,” he said.
“They have fenced everything up and have it protected and there will be a watch on the scene all weekend,” he said.
Const. Shaun Marchand, media liaison with the Red Deer City RCMP, said they will investigate further once they receive information from city fire investigators.
He is asking for the public’s assistance in determining the cause of the blaze.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Red Deer City RCMP at 403-343-5575.
If you wish to remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or visit www.tipsubmit.com. If the information leads to an arrest, tipsters are eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.
jjones@www.reddeeradvocate.com