House fire on 47 Ogden in Red Deer's Oriole Park neighbourhood on Wednesday. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Alessia Proietti

Potential start in basement

House fire in Oriole Park becomes complete write-off; one person sent to hospital

Nov 1, 2023 | 5:19 PM

A house Red Deer’s Oriole Park neighbourhood is a complete write-off after a fire Wednesday morning, sending one person to hospital.

Curtis Schaefer, Assistant Deputy Chief with Red Deer Emergency Services (RDES) says that just after 9 a.m. on November 1, a few Fire Prevention Officers were driving up Taylor Drive in a utility vehicle on their way to a business inspection when they noticed a large cloud of black smoke.

Rerouting towards it, he says they found smoke and fire coming from multiple locations of the house on 47 Ogden Avenue.

The officers phoned in for crews, with RDES sending three engines, a ladder truck, platoon chief and an ambulance to the scene for a total of 21 staff. He says the house was fully involved in flames by then with heavy conditions.

While there were no fatalities, Schaefer says three people were in the house and after assessment, one was transported to hospital. He says there were potentially two cats in the home but cannot confirm if they were able to escape the fire.

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“Given the size of the fire and parts of the building burning, it was a difficult fire to fully extinguish; that’s why we were on scene for as long as we were,” he said.

Schaefer notes firefighters put out the fire around 2 p.m. later that day, having to bring in heavy equipment to access parts of the home still deemed hot spots. He says an excavator opened the side wall of the house and gave them access to the basement.

Firefighters at the home around 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Schaefer says the pile of logs in the front are unrelated to the fire. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

While he believes the fire may have originated in the basement, the cause is still under investigation as crews were unable to enter the home due to extensive fire damage and structural instability of the home’s floors.

There were no injuries to firefighters or damage to neighbouring homes.

Schaefer said that crews would remain on scene to secure the structure with heavy equipment to ensure no flare ups while investigators then check that the property is safe to be left for the evening.

He says the occupants of the home will now be staying with nearby family and friends.

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