An early-morning blaze just hours after trick-or-treaters called it a night last week has destroyed a fifth-wheel trailer and significantly damaged a Westlock home.
Westlock fire fighters were called to an Eastglen residence at about 1:40 a.m. Thursday morning because of a report of a recreational vehicle on fire in a driveway.
“The threatened structure was also starting to be come involved because of the winds from the southeast … pushing the flames from the fire in towards to residence,” fire chief Stuart Koflick said.
Residents had already evacuated the home by the time crews arrived, and nobody was injured as a result of the fire.
The trailer and house belonged to Trevor Woods, who said the entire experience was traumatic.
“It was a pretty scary experience,” he said.
When the bright light of the fire woke him up, he said he had no idea what was going on.
“I walked out into the kitchen to see what all the light was and our trailer was ablaze,” he said.
Panic set in at that point, and Woods hurried to get his family out of the house.
Koflick said upon arrival crews immediately began an aggressive attack and successfully put down the flames in the RV and prevented the fire from spreading.
“They did a very good job of saving the actual residence,” Koflick said.
There was, however, significant smoke and water damage to the home.
Woods said he is very grateful for the firefighters who put their lives on the line to put out the fire.
“I can’t give those guys enough credit,” he said. “They did a great job containing it so that the whole house didn’t burn down to the ground.”
The cause of the fire has been determined, Koflick said, but until the report is finalized that information cannot be released to the public. He did note that the fire was not deemed to be suspicious — something that had crossed his mind considering the fire took place overnight following Halloween.
“I’ve been doing this long enough to know that potentially could have been a factor,” he said.
Koflick said the family involved did everything right in phoning 911, getting everyone to safety and alerting neighbours — incidents like this underscore the importance of knowing what to do in the event of a fire and executing a plan.
“It just goes to show no matter what time of day, what season, fires can occur,” Koflick said. “It’s very important for people to have their personal fire safety plans developed at their home and practice them.”
