A fatal house fire in the northeast community of Taradale is under investigation.
Fire crews responded just after 1:15 a.m. Thursday morning after a 911 call from a neighbour who spotted the flames.
When firefighters arrived, flames were shooting from both floors of the home, threatening to spread to neighbouring houses.
“There was a lot of fire from this structure, coming out the main floor and the second storey,” said Battalion Chief Scott Cowan with the Calgary Fire Department.
“Flames were pushing out to both sides of the structure and impinging on the houses on either side of the structure. Crews were very quick getting water on that fire to prevent the houses on either side from igniting.”
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One adult was found dead inside the home during the firefighter’s search.
Five other people were inside the house at the time with two adults managing to escape from the basement on their own.
Two more were rescued from the roof after escaping through an upstairs window. One was a child taken to hospital in serious but stable condition, the other was an adult who is also in stable condition.
Another child was carried out by firefighters, and rushed to hospital by EMS in critical, life-threatening condition.
Zubair Hanif was the neighbour who called 911 and says he did what he could to get everyone out.
“There was huge smoke, black smoke inside,” described Hanif. “I heard the noise of a lady upstairs, she was in her bedroom with her husband. One of the kids was in the other room, a baby girl. She was screaming and we broke the door to get them out of the house.”
Because of the fatal outcome from the fire, the Calgary Police Arson Unit has been called in but Cowan says there’s nothing to suggest the fire is suspicious.
The cause is still under investigation.
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‘She was screaming’: Multiple people rescued from fatal Alberta house fire
