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House destroyed in early morning blaze

An early-morning fire ripped through a Westlock home last week, completely gutting the building and rendering it uninhabitable. RCMP Staff Sgt. Bryan Clayton said the exact cause of the fire, which started around 5 a.m.
Westlock firefighters fight a house fire in the early morning hours of July 25. The home was destroyed in the blaze.
Westlock firefighters fight a house fire in the early morning hours of July 25. The home was destroyed in the blaze.

An early-morning fire ripped through a Westlock home last week, completely gutting the building and rendering it uninhabitable.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Bryan Clayton said the exact cause of the fire, which started around 5 a.m. on July 25, remains under investigation.

“There’s nothing to say there’s any suspicious activity, or that it’s the result of a crime,” he said.

At around 5:30 a.m., the Westlock fire department and RCMP received a call about a burning house near the intersection of 107 Street and 98 Avenue, and when they arrived the building was fully engulfed in flames.

Within minutes of turning on their hoses, the firefighters knocked down the fire and got it under control.

Both the town and county fire departments were on scene to put it out.

Nobody was inside the house when the fire started, Clayton said. The resident was just returning to the house when she noticed smoke in the building, he said.

In addition to rendering the house uninhabitable, Clayton said the flames damaged the siding on a neighbouring house, but not enough to compromise that building’s structure.

By 9:30 a.m. the fire was essentially extinguished, and firefighters were still on scene performing salvage work and making sure there were no hot spots still smoldering and at risk of flaring up again.

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