Calgary firefighters are battling a blaze in the Skyview Ranch area

An overnight fire destroyed one home and damaged two others in the northeast community of Skyview Ranch.

A fire in the 200 block of Northeast Skyview Manor displaced more than a dozen residents while crews worked to bring it under control.

The fire broke out before midnight. By the time firefighters arrived, the building was fully engulfed and additional units were mobilized to protect neighboring homes.

Chirag Besai, who lives next door to the burning house, was awakened by the firemen to leave.

“It's scary, especially when it's cold outside and you're barefoot, you're running away from home, you don't know what to take with you,” Besay said. house. That was the first thought (that) and you don't think of anything else.”

Neighbor Samantha Keown said she heard and smelled the fire before she saw it, but it quickly dissipated after she saw it.

“At first I thought (it was) just someone having a fire in their yard because I heard wood creaking, but I thought I smelled something wrong, I thought I liked the smell of plastic wrap. Keun said.

“When I turned my head around the corner, I saw the fence, everything was on fire, and I grabbed the phone and ran inside to call 911, and when I came back out, the back was completely on fire. fire”.

Keun ran into the house to make sure everyone was out.

“When I was at 911, I started banging on the door to get them out. But they have already run out (run out). One of the women said, “I was terrified because my husband was still lying there.”

This person got out of the house safely, but the house needs to be demolished. All its supporting walls and beams were destroyed. Firefighters told residents of neighboring houses to be careful as the building was in danger of collapsing.

“You could totally see the whole house collapse,” Chenay said, “and the fireman told me that one of the walls was very weak because of the fire (and said) it could fall into your house.”

Firefighters say fence fires, like the one at Skyview Ranch, are especially dangerous because they typically don't set off smoke alarms until the fire is already inside the house — seconds to escape. No one was injured in this case.

Fire officials say the cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it is not considered suspicious.