Calgary fire crews knockdown 5 blazes across city in 24 hours

The Calgary Fire Department (CFD) is reminding locals to always exercise caution after crews were called to five fires in the city within 24 hours, it said on Friday.

The first was a single-story home in Pineridge, where no injuries were reported. The home was under renovation and unoccupied.

But then crews were called to Silver Springs for a fire outside of a home on the back deck. The CFD says “one senior occupant” was assisted by fire crews in evacuating, while the rest of the occupants evacuated on their own. No occupants were injured, and the fire was contained to the source home.

After that, they got a call about a basement blaze in Martindale at around midnight Friday, when one of the residents, who had self-evacuated, told their neighbour what happened, leading to calling 911. EMS treated two residents on scene.

Later, CFD say crews responded to another call about a fire at a single-story home in Westgate. No one was home at the time of the incident, and no injuries were reported.

It didn’t end there, as firefighters were then called to Bowness for a fire at an unoccupied residence undergoing renovations — the fifth in 24 hours. Flames spread throughout the home, keeping up after each knockdown before crews finally extinguished it, containing it to the single home.

Overall, the CFD isn’t reporting any major injuries, but they are reminding Calgarians to consider the following:

• Keep anything that can burn at least one metre away from any heat sources.
• Have working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms.
  • Test them by pressing the test button once a month, and change any replaceable batteries at least once per year. Some alarms are powered by ten-year batteries, and batteries do not need to be changed.
  • Replace alarms every ten years.
• Plan and practice a home escape plan at least twice a year.
  • Firefighters say everyone in the home should know the address of their home, two ways out in an emergency, and where the safe meeting place is.
  • The plan should include helping anyone needing assistance, such as young children, seniors, people with disabilities or people with injuries.
• Detour around fire incidents.
  • Watch for emergency lights, Calgary Police vehicles, scene tape and traffic cones. These indicate that the road is closed, and emergency crews place them at the nearest intersections to divert traffic.

More fire safety information can be found on the CFD website.