Pair injured battling blaze
Two firefighters were injured while battling a mobile home blaze in Penhold, on Saturday night.
Fire crews were called out to Penhold Estates trailer court just after 8 p.m. to an unoccupied mobile home unit where squatters had been staying inside.
When the six units and 24 firefighters arrived on scene, flames were already coming from the west window of the trailer. As firefighters entered they found the floor had burned away so they needed to battle the blaze from the outside.
“There was a large column of smoke visible from several kilometres away,” said Penhold Fire Chief Jim Pendergast.
The squatters staying in the trailer told fire crews one person was missing and there were propane tanks inside the building at the time of the fire.
The cold and icy conditions wreaked havoc with firefighters’ breathing apparatus and footing for the crews. The two injured firefighters were treated at the scene and released. Pendergast said there was no fire hydrant at the court, so they called on the Innisfail Fire Department to hook up to the closest hydrant and then run a supply hose 500 metres to the Penhold fire crews’ engine.
Neighbours in adjacent homes were evacuated for two hours while crews battled the blaze. They were allowed to return home after smoke, carbon dioxide and hydrogen cyanide levels were deemed safe.
Pendergast said there’s no damage estimate, and the cause of the fire has not yet been determined. However the fire is being treated as suspicious. Because the building was more than 40 years old it will be torn down and removed, said Pendergast. Penhold is located 168 kilometres south of Edmonton.
Meanwhile, Onoway Regional Fire Services responded to a structure fire in the Village of Alberta Beach Saturday evening.
Crews responded quickly to a detached garage fire at 6:45 p.m. The owner of the property was working inside the garage when the fire broke out, and tried to put out the fire before evacuating. One person was taken to hospital as a precaution. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Onoway is located 68 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.