Flames shooting out of a huge hole in the roof, charred black casing around the windows, and water running down the front steps like a waterfall – it was quite a sight on Rae Street Saturday morning as crews battled a house fire.
The blaze was called in around 10:10 a.m. Saturday morning at 1457 Rae St. Fire Chief Ernie Polsom said when the first crews got there, they automatically went into defensive mode.
“The building was under very heavy involvement with fire, flames coming out of it all over the place.”
It took several hours for crews to get the fire under control, made all the more difficult by the fact it was too dangerous to go into the house.
More than a dozen firefighters were on scene, split between an open side of the house and the front. Eventually a ladder truck had to be called in so they could get at the flames reaching out of the roof when part of it fell in.
On Saturday morning, Polsom said they didn’t know about a cause of the fire yet.
“This is in the queue. We’ve got a number of structures we’re investigating right now. With the condition of the building and the volume of work that we’ve got, it’s likely to be a few days before we’ve got any idea.”
One person did manage to get out of the house safely.