Twenty-one people and two dogs are displaced from their homes after a massive fire ripped through three houses and their garages in the southeast Calgary community of New Brighton on Monday night. Fire crews were called to the 1100 block of New Brighton Park S.E. around 8:40 p.m. and arrived to find flames shooting into the sky. James Kranjcevic lives across the street and said he was watching TV when he heard two loud bangs that sounded like explosions. “It sounded almost like there was a crash outside, and 10 seconds later I was getting up from my room and heard another bang, so I rushed downstairs and instantly, walking outside, you could see a bright orange coming from the back of the houses,” he said. Kranjcevic quickly ran out to help neighbours, including a woman a few doors down who was trying to get some belongings out of her home. “Just trying to help her out and get a few things, get her dog out to her vehicle; of course everyone is in a panic because everything happens really quickly,” he said. “Just trying to get them away because it’s your life in there, and that’s the worst part about it—just watching it all burn down just really messes somebody up.” Fire investigators spent much of Tuesday sifting through debris. “It appears the fire originated in the garage in the middle home and quickly spread to the home and neighbouring homes and garages,” said Alex Kwan, Calgary Fire Department public information officer. Andrei Skitsko lives next to the source home and said he had less than seven minutes to get his wife and three children outside to safety before the fire had spread to their home. “It spread very quickly, so I tried to do as much as possible with the hose. It didn’t work, and I just gave up on this because this was, like, very quick. It went to the fence, it went to my neighbour’s house and then it spread to our house and our garage,” he said. “A terrible situation.” Skitsko said his family will be out of their home for roughly a year and are grateful to family and neighbours who’ve already stepped up to offer monetary and clothing donations. “We’re still stressed with all this. It’s difficult, especially when you have kids and family, because we need to take care of them first,” he said. Nobody was seriously injured, but one person was assessed by EMS on scene for smoke inhalation. Three homes were completely destroyed, and two others suffered moderate damage. Some townhomes across the back alley also had visible heat damage. Jordan Graca lives across the alley and was with friends who called 911. “Two or three little columns of fire seemed to come out of the garage, so right away we’re like, ‘We need to call 911,’” he said. “In that time, just talking for a couple minutes, it seemed that the blaze changed from a few columns to the whole garage just erupting.” Graca said he was blown away by the heat of the fire. “The heat was intense; it was just coming at us,” he said. “How quickly things can change. I’m so devastated for the families impacted here.”
