House fire in Regina leaves seven homeless

Seven people are without a home following a fire in Regina’s Cathedral area Saturday night. It was the second major fire in Regina in a week. Earlier this week a home on Argyle Street burned down, leaving a woman dead inside the house.

The rental property on Cameron Street was home to several tenants who each occupied one of the seven suites.

“All escaped safely,” Candace Liskowich from the Regina Fire Department said. “There were no injuries and there was no exposure to either house to the north or the south.”

At this point it is not clear what started the fire, but it did start on the second floor.

Rob Nechvata lives next door, and he said he could smell the smoke before 9-1-1 was called.

“The smoke was coming out and I was standing there talking to them,” he said. “I must have been standing there at least five minutes before someone actually dialled 9-1-1.”

Firefighters were quickly able to put out the fire on the second flood, but several minutes later they noticed smoke and flames had spread to the third floor. Crews had to go and start pulling down the roof which had also caught fire.

“There’s no fire stop between the levels so that fire can just travel right up the wall easily and it gets into the roof,” Liskowich said.

There was a note on the front door of the home for any tenants who wanted to come and check on their former home. Lorna Siever has lived in the neighbourhood for 18 years and wanted to lend a helping hand.

“I would really like to help out wherever we can and I know that there are other people in this community that would,” Siever said. “They’ve got things that they may not need and there are people who need it.”

Siever works for a group called Full Circle, which donates people’s belongings to others who need them.

“I hope we can help out in some way getting them dishes, furniture, and TV’s,” Siever said.

Investigators are looking into the cause of the fire. At this point there is no word on cost of the damage or what the owner plans to do with the structure.