Fire engulfs mobile home in Calgary's northwest

A fire at the Greenwood Village mobile home park in Calgary's northwest sent three people to hospital and forced residents out into the cold on Saturday morning.

A neighbour said she was woken up by someone banging on her door yelling about an emergency.

"Person is panicking, opened the door, let them in," said the woman who declined to give her name."They were covered in blood, they had jumped through the window. They were concerned about another party not there. I got the children up, phoning 911 immediately."

Third person taken to hospital

Adam Loria with EMS said two people were directly affected by the fire and were sent to hospital with a variety of soft tissue and inhalation-related injuries.

A third person, whothe fire department said was from an adjacent home,was not directly affected by the fire but was taken to hospital in life-threatening condition.

The nature of that person's injuriesis not yet known.

Thick smoke

The neighbour said smoke from the fire was so thick she couldn't tell if she was going up or down as she searched for anyone else who might have been affected by the incident and banged on neighbours doors to alert them.

She found the second person from the fire and got them inside her home.

"It started so rapidly and so harsh, the smoke was unbearable," she said.

"There was smoke for at least 12 minutes before the flames started popping through, then you could hear all the windows smashing. From there I just walked away and comforted my children."

The fire was contained to the one home and crews are still on scene dealing with hot spots.

Extreme cold

District fire chief Bruce Kinnell, said the extreme cold posed challenges for emergency crews.

"It makes it very difficult for the personnel and the equipment. Everything freezes up, both the bodies and the equipment. Once we start flowing water we have to keep it flowing otherwise it freezes up very quickly," he said.

"Even when we get the trucks back to the station we need an hour or so to thaw out some things and get it back in working order."

Once the fire is declared out, the cause will beinvestigated.

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