Windsor home gutted by fire, one resident flees burning house

A home in downtown Windsor, N.S., was badly damaged by a fire Thursday morning, with one man fleeing the burning home as it was engulfed in flames.

Neighbour Deepak Sehrawat said he awoke to screams and cries and looked out to see the home across the street on fire.

"Lots of fire and smoke and haze of smoke is coming out from their house right in front of me," said Sehrawat.

Jeffrey Pinch, the deputy chief of the Southwest Hants Fire station, said four people lived at the house on Gerrish Street, but only one man was inside at the time of fire. He was able to flee the burning building without injury.

Three cats were also in the house. One was secured with a neighbour and the other two were seen running away from the home. 

Pinch said the cause of the fire will be investigated, but at the moment is deemed accidental. 

"Right now it's just being accidentally started somewhere in the back of the house," said Pinch. 

Firefighters at the scene closed streets as neighbouring fire departments from Brooklyn and New Minas arrived to help contain the fire.

They were at the scene for around three hours. After the firefigthers put out the blaze, they had to use a "vaccum truck" to pump out water from the basement. 

The older family home still stands, but the interior was gutted by the fire. 

"The fire that was there traveled up through the structure, so it's a lot of water and smoke and fire damage and various areas where it came through," said Pinch. 

Neighbouring houses did not catch fire.