Two large condo complexes that were under construction in the south community of McKenzie Towne were destroyed and two more were damaged early Sunday morning.
Fire crews responded to the 600 block of McKenzie Towne Drive around 2:30 a.m. and found a large structure fire and burst natural gas lines.
Several people in the nearby area were told to leave their homes because of the gas and smoke.
“The fire was very very hot it also caused all the gas lines to break to burn off in every one of the buildings so with that we had a lot of natural gas in the area which made us continue the evacuation,” said Calgary Fire Department battalion chief Ernie Molineaux.
He also said nearby buildings and vehicles were also damaged.
“Yes they did they started to melt some siding and pop the windows on them plus, all of the vehicles that were parked on the street received heavy fire damage ...melted all of the plastic parts and took out most of the vehicles," Molineaux said.
In the meantime, crews spotted another fire at a nearby construction site and quickly put it out.
Investigators will now try to determine if the two are related.