A tower of thick, black smoke loomed over St. Albert Tuesday afternoon as firefighters battled a garage fire in Kingswood.
About a dozen fire engines, tower trucks, ambulances, and other emergency vehicles were crammed into the Kingsmoor Close/Kingswood Blvd. region at about 1:00 p.m. July 8 as firefighters worked to put out a nearby fire. Said fire had produced a column of black smoke visible from many blocks away.
St. Albert Fire Services got a call about a garage on fire at 3 Kingsmoor Close at about 12:20 p.m., said deputy fire chief Leigh Sawicki. Crews from all three city fire halls responded, with a crew from Edmonton called in as backup due to the 30 C heat.
“With the heavy gear they’re wearing they’re going to sweat and expend those fluids quickly,” Sawicki said, so crews called in plenty of backup so they could sub in firefighters in case of heat exhaustion.
Witness Stephen Shand said he walked over to the scene of the fire after seeing the smoke from his home on Kingsdale Cres. He arrived shortly before the first responders.
“What I saw was just the fire coming out of the garage, and a lot of smoke,” he said, adding that he also heard a few explosions from what may have been vehicle tires.
Sawicki said crews kept the fire from spreading to the attached home and had it contained in about 30 minutes. One person was in the home at the time of the fire, but was not injured. One firefighter had been examined for heat exhaustion as of 2 p.m. Crews were still investigating the cause of the fire as of Tuesday afternoon.
A former firefighter of 50 years himself, Shand praised the firefighters for their swift response in a dangerous situation.
“You don’t know what’s in a garage [fire]. There could be stored ammunition, propane tanks, the vehicles themselves,” he said.
“It’s not an easy fire to knock down. You’ve got to be really careful.”
The Gazette will have more details on this fire later this week.
