EDMONTON -- A passerby who smelled smoke and saw a glow coming from a nearby home is credited with alerting firefighters to a blaze in north Edmonton Thursday morning.
"I saw a funny glow off the side of the house at about 5:30," Tammy Bauer told CTV News Edmonton. "I went out to take a look and saw flames inside of the side, basement window."
She says she ran to the back of the yard where there was someone who appeared to be oblivious to the growing flames.
"I yelled at them that there was a fire inside. I ran back across the street to my house and called 911. While I was talking with 911, I went banging on the neighbours on either side of the burning house to get them to evacuate in case the fire jumped."
The 911 call was made just before 5:30 a.m. and the first crews arrived on scene at 133 Avenue and 104 Street by 5:33 a.m., confirmed district chief Brian Williams.
"They found a fully involved fire at the rear of the house and began fire attack," Williams told CTV News Edmonton.
"We did find one occupant in the basement," he added, saying the man was able to walk from the home and taken to hospital for precautionary reasons.
"Thank goodness everyone is OK," Bauer commented.
The fire was declared under control two hours later, but as of 8:20 a.m., firefighters still needed to do a second search of the property.
The chief said investigators had begun looking into the cause of the fire, and noted the house had lost "a lot of integrity" in the blaze.
In a noon update, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said investigators were treating the fire as "suspected to be deliberately set" and placed an initial damage estimate at $320,000. Police confirmed they are investigating.
