Five people are safe after a fire ravaged a Penhold home, all because of a vigilant citizen.
Around 4 a.m. on Aug. 30, members of the Penhold Fire Department were called to a structure fire located along Robinson Avenue, just east of Highway 2A in the small community south of Red Deer.
According to Penhold Fire Chief Jim Pendergast, a man passing on his way home from work noticed the blaze and was able to bang on the door to wake up the residents.
“The man noticed the rear deck, side of the house and roof were on fire and woke up the occupants, telling them to evacuate,” Pendergast stated in a post on the department’s Facebook page.
“There is no doubt that the good samaritan saved possible injury to the occupants as the house was already filling with smoke.”
Pendergast added that all five people in the home got out safely and were taken in by some neighbours, while at least one pet cat was rescued by firefighter while one cat remains missing.
Upon arrival, heavy fire was observed showing through the roof at the rear of the home and crews began the initial attack from that point. It took several hours for the 18 firefighters and five units on scene to extingish the blaze, that has since been found to have been caused by improperly disposed up smoke materials on the rear deck.
No damage was caused to any neighbouring homes and its estimated the damage will be more than $300,000.
Ambulance crews along with RCMP, utility and Penhold public works units were also on the scene.
The area was closed off to traffic during the incident and investigation, but reopened around 10 a.m.
