The quick thinking of a keen-eyed neighbour helped put out a potentially disastrous fire on New Year’s Eve.
Chris Miles noticed some smoke coming out of a neighbour’s chimney on Lougheed Hwy. in Harrison Mills. Only, the smoke wasn’t coming out of the top of the chimney, but below.
He let the neighbours know about the chimney fire and called 911 at about 3:30 p.m. The homeowners put up ladders and put the fire out with a garden hose.
Fire Chief Wayne Dyer said Miles’ observation and quick actions likely kept the house from burning. He also wants to remind everyone with a wood stove that annual maintenance is necessary to lessen the chance of chimney fires. For homes that use a wood stove year round, he said maintenance should be done twice a year.
There was a second fire over the holiday season, he said, on Golf Rd.
A water pump seems to be the cause of a structure fire that started around 10:17 p.m. on Dec. 28.
Crews were on scene fighting the blaze until 2:30 a.m. the next day, and stayed on scene until an investigation was conducted in the morning along with the RCMP.
The water pump in the utility room is where the fire began, Dyer said.
