A one-year-old child and a man were treated for minor smoke inhalation following a house fire in the northeast community of Livingston Saturday afternoon. The child was transported to hospital as a precaution. The fire began along Calhoun Common Northeast around 2 p.m. The heavy smoke and flames, which firefighters could see as soon as they left the fire station, prompted multiple 911 calls. “Crews arrived to find heavy, heavy fire and smoke coming from the rear of the house and occupants in neighbouring houses beginning to evacuate,” says Battalion Chief Keith Stahl. It was a frightening scene for Gladys Muyapa. She was at work and talking to her husband and daughter before the fire began; 10 minutes later they called to say there was a fire and she immediately drove home worrying about what she might find. “When I got here, I couldn’t find any space because the whole space was occupied by the fire trucks, by the EMS trucks so I had to go around to find a parking spot,” says Muyapa. “When I came the fire was still going and the cranes were up there just splashing the water down on top of the burnt property.” Her home did not burn but did sustain heat damage along one side. In total, four homes and several families have been impacted by the fire. “Two were badly damaged. The source unit and the one directly attached to it sustained the most damage. We did have one neighbouring structure that sustained some superficial damage from the excessive heat that was coming from the fire,” says Stahl. Muyapa says a neighbour banged on the door of her home to ensure her husband and daughter got out safely. “It’s a scary situation thinking about what you could lose. It’s not about the property. It’s about the people you love. It’s about the neighbours and what they’re going through,” she says. Fire crews will remain on scene for several more hours to watch for hotspots. The investigation into how the fire started will begin soon.
