Fire guts Rae Street house
Matthew Stonechild was getting dropped off at his mother’s Rae Street home Monday morning when he glimpsed a man leaning against the outside of a blazing building.
“He looked pretty fragile and I’d seen him walking around the neighbourhood on crutches, so I knew he needed help,” Stonechild said.
The 33-year-old man ran over to lend a hand.
“I yelled at him from across the street to get away from the house, but he said he couldn’t,” Stonechild said. “My first instinct was just to run in there and get him to safety.
“He couldn’t really walk on his own and he had no shoes on ... As I was pulling him away from the house, I turned back to see how it was looking and all of a sudden the front windows started smashing and fire was shooting out.”
When firefighters arrived on the 1500 block of Rae Street at about 10:50 a.m., the house was fully engulfed in flames.
Deputy Chief David Kinvig said there was damage to houses on both sides.
Stonechild walked the occupant of the burning home to an ambulance and he was taken to hospital with undetermined injuries.
“I believe it was more for observation,” said Kevin Digney, assistant fire chief.
The cause of the blaze will be investigated after the site is safe.
“Our inspectors and fire marshal have been on scene since early in the event and they have remained on scene,” Digney said.
“They ’ll start to conduct their investigation once it’s safe to do so.”
By mid-afternoon, the air was still thick with smoke and firefighters continued to monitor hot spots.
“It’s a bit of a waiting game to try to get to those hot spots,” Digney said.
At least one cat was rescued from a neighbouring residence damaged by the blaze. The feline was agitated, but not visibly injured.
“He said he had a cat, but he was pretty sure that the cat got out,” Stonechild said.
Bill Thorn with the Regina Humane Society confirmed three cats were found at the site of the fire. Two are now with their owners.
“Another one that we don’t have an owner for is here and it did suffer from some minor burns to its paws and fur, so we’re just monitoring it for anything else that might pop up, like smoke inhalation,” Thorn said. “We’re cautiously optimistic it will be OK, but we don’t know for sure.”
Fire crews battled the blaze and frigid temperatures. When they got on scene, the temperature was -25 C, but felt like -35 with the wind chill. As the result of the extreme cold, five crews rotated turns battling the fire.
“Early in the incident, we also had our operational support unit come to the scene to give the guys a place to warm up,” Digney said. “While you’re there, there’s flowing water, lines are freezing up and everybody on scene was covered with ice.”
While you’re there, there’s flowing water, lines are freezing up and everybody on scene was covered with ice.