Neighbours rattled after deadly fire in Al Ritchie neighbourhood

Opening the door with tears in her eyes Monday morning, Elaine Muir said she will remember the happier times with her neighbour.

“It’s a sad day,” Muir said as she wiped away tears.

In a social media post Sunday, Regina Fire and Protective Services said crews responded after reports of heavy smoke and fire coming from a house on the 2500 block of Elliott Street in the Al Ritchie neighbourhood.

While crews were conducting their search, they found a dead person inside the house. An investigation by Regina Fire and Protective Services and the coroner is underway; the victim’s name has not been released.

In a media release late Monday afternoon, Regina Fire and Protective Services said the cause of the fire was “due to careless use of smoker’s material.”

READ MORE:

• Two rescued from early-morning duplex fire in North Central
• Two people escape overnight house fire in North Central without injury
• One person taken to hospital after fire on Centennial Street

Muir lives across the street from her neighbour’s home. She said she slept through the sirens at the time of the fire around 2 a.m. on Sunday.

Outside, firefighters were still watching in case hot spots reignited.

“At one point, they took the hose to the roof and the evestroughs and that was basically it,” she said.

One of the firefighters confirmed to her that a person was found dead inside. Muir called her neighbour a “sweetheart,” and offered her condolences to the family.

“We just chatted, and then we would talk about planting our garden and planting flowers,” she said. “We had a cup of coffee a couple of times.”

Across the street, Shawn Gibson was awake at 2 a.m. on Sunday when he smelled smoke. Originally, he thought the smell may have been coming from his neighbour’s fire pit.

“I went outside because it was getting worse and worse and worse,” he said. “Then there was a lady banging on the door.”

Gibson did not know who died in the home across the street.

“It was really smoky and dark. You couldn’t tell if the smoke was coming from that house or the other house,” he said. “By the time I came outside, the police were already at the end of the block.”

Police knocked on Rhea McFarlane’s door telling her and her husband to come out.

“Honestly we didn’t really smell anything until we came outside,” she said. “The way that the wind was going was across the street, so nothing was blowing towards our house.

“By the time we opened the door, the smell was obviously quite strong.”

McFarlane said she and her neighbour would often have conversations out on the step in the spring and summer.

Muir said there’s still a lot of confusion as to what led to the flames, but she was going to make a point of checking her smoke detector batteries.

“You just don’t know what the future holds for you,” she said. “One day you’re here and the next day you are not.”

980 CJME reached out to Regina Fire and Protective Services for more details about the cause of the fire, but hadn’t received a response by the time of publication.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]