Calgary firefighters respond to massive house fire in Country Hills

Calgary firefighters were called to a massive blaze in the community of Country Hills Saturday morning.

Crews were called to the 400 block of Country Hills Drive northwest just after 9:30 a.m.

One home went up in flames, causing significant damage. Flames then spread to two homes on either side.

Stewart Climovich lived in a rental home damaged by the fire. He managed to escape, and even tried to fight the flames before fire crews arrived.

“I hopped over the fence. I turn the hose on and just tried to spray down the back, and that’s when I saw the fire on the back of [the] house next-door.”

Climovich said the smoke was overwhelming and he was forced to leave, but by that time crews had just arrived.

Calgary Fire Battalion Chief Bruce Barrs said all three homes suffered significant damage.

“Right now it’s looking like three homes are probably to the point where they are not salvageable,” said Calgary fire battalion chief Bruce Barrs.

“Residents from those three homes will be displaced for a significant amount of time.”

Barrs says a woman was taken to hospital after being injured trying to help when the fire first started. The extent of her injuries isn’t known.

“She suffered smoke inhalation. As you can imagine, the amount of smoke initially before the Calgary Fire Department arrived was fairly significant,” Barrs said.

There are no reports of any injuries to the people living in the three homes.

“The crews did a great job in regards to initially aggressively attacking the flames both with ground and aerial streams, [which] limited the advancement of those flames.”

Two fire trucks responded at first, with more than a half-dozen emergency vehicles joining the effort.

A Calgary Transit bus arrived to shelter people who were evacuated from nearby homes.

Calgary police have also gone to the area to help direct traffic.