Cause of Mohawk Bay house fire under investigation

CTV Winnipeg: Neighbour helps family to safety Ben Miljure on a neighbor who kicked down a fence to remove family from a house fire in Niakwa Park.

Witnesses say a massive fire that destroyed a home and two vehicles on Mohawk Bay started in a carport.

Fire crews were called to the scene in Niakwa Park shortly after 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Viewer video shows the home fully engulfed by the flames.

"The heat was just so intense, it was unbelievable. And that probably took all of two or three minutes at most. It was insane. I've never seen anything like that," said Mike Letain, who witnessed the blaze.

Don Chubey, who lives across the street from the home, said his wife first saw the smoke and called him over the window.

Once Chubey realized smoke was from a house fire, he told his wife to call 911.

“The wind's calmed down now, but the wind was really crazy at the time, so it was spreading quick, and we were kinda worried, because the way it was looking, it was looking like it was going to go onto the neighbour's house as well,” said Chubey.

Chubey ran across the street and through the adjacent carport to see if anyone was inside the home.

He found the people who live there outside in the backyard and kicked down a couple of fence boards to get the family away from the fire.

Chubey said everyone made it out safely, including the family’s dog.

Seeing how quickly the fire got out of control, and watching it spread to the house next door, left some people on the street thinking about their own emergency plans.

"When we got back home we thought, when was the last time we checked our smoke detectors? And what's our plan of escape, you know? You take a lot of that stuff for granted, but when you see something like this, it's unreal," said Letain.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

A damage estimate is unavailable pending the investigation.