A home was completely ravaged by fire early Tuesday morning in a Rocky Mountain House residential neighbourhood.
No one was injured but crews took nearly nine hours to get the blaze fully under control.
Clearwater Regional Fire Rescue Services received a call around 12:37 a.m. about a possible explosion on 61st Street.
When they arrived on scene, they found a house “well involved in fire, melting the siding off of the neighbouring house,” said Clearwater Regional Fire Rescue Services deputy fire chief Paul Prevost.
The initial situation was “tense” as no one knew if the lone male occupant of the home was inside, Prevost said. Luckily, he was away on vacation at the time. He has been informed about the fire and is now en route back to Rocky, Prevost said.
Twenty-five firefighters from Rocky, Condor and Leslieville hosed down the blaze and volunteers with Rocky Mountain House Search and Rescue also helped out, bringing firefighters coffee and providing a place to warm up on scene.
They were able to protect the neighbouring home.
Crews found no evidence of an explosion at the scene.
“We think it may have just been sounds from the house on fire as it probably went unattended for quite some time as no one was home,” Prevost said. “A neighbour two houses down was up late watching the Olympics and heard some pops and looked outside and saw the house on fire. He went outside and woke up the people who lived next door and took them back to his house until things were safe.”
Crews had everything under control by 9 a.m., after trouble from a few “hot spots that kept flaring up,” Prevost said.
A neighbour told Prevost the house was worth approximately $750,000. Prevost said he’s sure it will be a “complete writeoff.”
The cause and origins of the fire are still under investigation.
rfrancoeur@www.reddeeradvocate.com