Five killed in Calgary house fire

Five people are dead, following an early morning house fire in Falconridge in Calgary’s northeast. Crews made the gruesome discovery after they entered the home Saturday morning. At this point it’s reported all of the victims were adults.

The fire happened overnight at a home in the 100 block of Falchurch Crescent N.E. just before 1:30 a.m. The house was fully engulfed in flames which forced them to mount an exterior attack. The woman who called 911 to alert fire crews says the fire spread quickly.

“The whole living room was engulfed, the kitchen part in the front was engulfed,” says Helga. “And (the flames) were tall, like really tall. I’ve never seen anything like it. You could hear glass going out all the time too. Obviously heat blew the windows out of the house.”

Another neighbour says her husband ran outside to wake friends of theirs who lived next door and they managed to get out safely. Firefighters eventually were able to extiguish the blaze and get inside.

“Crews were sent inside the building and immediately started locating casualties. They brought four of those casualties out right away, and shortly after discovered a fifth casualty inside the building,” says Calgary Fire Chief Steve Dongworth.

It’s been a traumatic night for those witnessing the tragedy. Wayne and his girlfriend are neighbours.

“My girlfriend went out there and saw a body bag, or what looked like a body bag beside the fire truck laying on the street. So that was pretty upsetting,” he says.

Chief Dongworth says thankfully because it’s an older neighbourhood the fire didn’t spread to other homes because they are not built so close together as is the case in newer neighbourhoods.

No word yet on what sparked the deadly blaze or who lived in the home. More information will be released from the Medical Examiner’s office.

According to neighbours, police have been called to the house numerous times in the past couple of years for what they call noisy parties.