Three serious house fires within 24 hours in Guelph

The day after two women died in a Guelph house fire, flames tore through two more homes in the city.

Fire officials are crediting working smoke alarms with ensuring residents in the latest two incidents made it out alive.

There’s no indication any of the fires are connected.

Investigations into what started the flames in all three cases remain ongoing.

Local fire officials say it's been exhausting, but their passion for protecting their community keep their crews going.

"Is it taxing? Absolutely so," Tony Sabatini, chief of fire prevention for the Guelph Fire Department said. "Does it provide some form of frustration? At times. But the reality is when we have the passion and the focus I think we can get things done."

Neighbours help rescue woman from burning home

A woman is in hospital after a fire at her Kirkland Street home.

The flames erupted around 1 a.m. Tuesday.

“We heard somebody screaming and my wife heard somebody calling for help,” said Ted Mooney, who lives nearby.

When he came outside, he saw his neighbour had gotten partly out of her house. He and another neighbour worked together to get her to safety.

“We carried her across the street,” Mooney said. “And then [the flames] came out the front door and the whole porch was on fire. She was lucky she got out.”

Fire tape surrounds a home on Kirkland Street in Guelph on March 12, 2024. (Colton Wiens/CTV Kitchener)

Sabatini said when fire crews arrived, the home was already engulfed in flames.

The woman, who was the only occupant of the home, remains in hospital.

“At this point, we’re uncertain whether [her injuries] are life-threatening,” Sabatini said.

Two pet dogs died in the fire.

Sabatini said the cause of the fire is currently under investigation, but what they do know at this point is the home had working smoke alarms.

“That may have been the saving grace for this individual,” he said.

(Hayden Phillips/CTV Kitchener)

Residents displaced after fire in west end

A few hours before the fire on Kirkland Street, flames broke out at a home on West Acres Drive.

Matt Valeriote, the assistant chief fire prevention officer for the Guelph Fire Department, said firefighters got the call Monday evening.

Firefighters are seen at a home on West Acres Drive in Guelph on March 12, 2024, the day after a fire. (Colton Wiens/CTV Kitchener)

The fire started in the home’s attached garage before spreading to the second-storey bedroom above it.

“The damage is extensive,” Valeriote said.

He said the people inside the home were alerted to the fire by smoke alarms and everyone made it out safely.

At this point, the residents won’t be able to return to the home because of the damage.

Two women killed in overnight fire

The fires on Kirkland Street and West Acres Drive follow a deadly blaze on Edinburgh Road.

Two people died and two others escaped after flames erupted at the home.

Firefighters arrived around 12:40 a.m. Monday and fought their way to the second floor under extremely dangerous conditions to rescue two people trapped inside, Guelph Fire Chief Brian Arnold said.

Aftermath of a fatal fire at a Guelph townhouse on March 11, 2024. (Colton Wiens/CTV Kitchener)

One of those people was pronounced dead at the scene, while the second later succumbed to their injuries. They’ve been identified only as two adult women.

“We came outside and that's when we saw the fire,” neighbour Annette Whitaker said Monday. “We were standing out here kind of watching everything happen. The neighbor mentioned that she heard the man yelling for his family. The poor guy was just looking for his wife and his daughter.”