Three families displaced by fire at Highland Green townhouse complex

Three families have been displaced following an overnight fire in north Red Deer. 

Red Deer Emergency Services was called to the fire at Hilltop Estates on 63 Street in the Highland Green neighbourhood just after midnight.

An emergency services spokesman says three units were impacted by the fire which took crews a number of hours to contain.

There has been no word yet on the amount of damage done.

Investigators are looking into the cause, but neighbours say they already have a pretty good idea as to what it was.

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“I had all the windows open and I smelled what I thought was burning paper, because my neighbour has a penchant of sitting on her back deck burning paper,” says Wanda Anglos, who lives in the unit next door to where the fire started.

Anglos was doing dishes when she noticed the fire.

“The smell got worse and worse and I went and I looked and there were at least 15 foot flames coming out of her balcony door. I grabbed my phone, dialed 911 and just started hollering ‘Fire.’”

While she and her family came away unharmed, Anglos says the fire made for some anxious moments.

“I lost my emotional support dog — I got him back — I physically couldn’t find him. I was in complete panic, and then the ambulance people came to help and that’s about it.”

The family’s cat, a long-haired black angora named Axel, remains missing. [UPDATE: Axel has since been found]

Anglos says it will be three to six months before she and her family, husband Robert and daughter Bayley, will be able to return to their home. In the meantime, she says the company managing their property is providing them with temporary accommodations.

“I was surprised they were able to save the building and not have it all go up,” Robert says. “They [firefighters] did a real good job and kudos to them, they did their job. The Red Cross too — everybody was really good.”

Video courtesy of Tyler Martinussen