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Four people injured, one missing in reserve fire
March 6, 2015, Calgary - One man is in critical condition and three other people are also in hospital after a house fire on a reserve just outside Calgary. One person remains unaccounted for, according to the Tsuu T’ina Nation Police Service.
March 6, 2015
By The Canadian Press
Emergency response officials say four people—three men and one woman—are believed to be in their 20s. EMS said one man in critical condition has been taken to Foothills Medical Centre; the other three victims were taken to Rockyview General Hospital in stable but non-life threatening condition.
The four are suffering from burns and smoke inhalation.
Crews were called early Thursday morning to the blaze on the Tsuu T’ina reserve, just outside Calgary’s southwest city limits. The house is located near the intersection of Grey Eagle Drive and Starlight Road. Police say the fire was under control as of 2 p.m. and officials were waiting to enter the house to investigate.
“Support is being provided by the Tsuu T’ina Nation to those families impacted,” said a release sent on behalf of the police service.
Redwood Meadows fire Chief Rob Evans says it will take a lot of work to determine exactly what caused the fire.
Evans says he would like to see fire chiefs push the message that sprinkler systems in homes are important, especially in rural areas, which crews can’t easily get to.
He says there have been far too many tragic fires recently.
Two young children recently died last month in a fire on a reserve near Loon Lake in northern Saskatchewan. A two-year-old boy and his 18-month-old sister were at their grandmother’s house.
The chief of the Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation said his reserve has a working fire truck, but not enough money for proper equipment or to train crews.
The volunteer fire department in nearby Loon Lake was called but didn’t respond, because service to the reserve had been cut weeks earlier over unpaid bills.
The bills have since been paid and a new service agreement is in place.
Last week, four brothers died in a house fire in the tiny community of Kane, Man. Their mother escaped with three of their siblings, but the boys were sleeping on the second floor of a two-storey farmhouse and could not get out.
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