Neighbour hears loud bang as fire strikes west-end Halifax homes

A west-end Halifax resident says she believes she heard an explosion just before firefighters arrived to battle a fire at two houses in west-end Halifax.

At first, Catherine Droesbeck said she thought it may have been a car crash, but then she smelled smoke coming from 6618 Quinpool Rd. That house is divided into multi unit apartments.

"I looked out my bedroom window from upstairs and I saw a huge plume of black smoke," she said.

Smoke could be seen coming from the roof of a house located situated near the busy intersection at Quinpool Road and Connaught Avenue.

A Halifax Fire official says two separate houses caught fire on Quinpool Road on Wednesday night. The fires were knocked down around 9 p.m.

The Halifax Fire official said all residents made it out of the houses.

Alexandria Samson lives at 6618 Quinpool Road and managed to get out of the apartment with her roommate, dog and another dog belonging to a different tenant who wasn't home at the time.

She said she was sitting in the kitchen when a neighbour started yelling from outside about the fire.

"When I came outside to see what he was yelling about, he was yelling 'Get out! The house is on fire!" said Samson.

"When I looked up, the apartment above mine was in flames."

Kate Newhook, another tenant, said fire crews got to the house fast and quickly started removing people's pets from the building and giving them medical attention.

"Pretty much everyone in the building has a pet," said Newhook.

She said one cat had to be been taken to the vet.

Earlier Wednesday evening, Halifax Fire was at a different apartment fire in Halifax's Cowie Hill neighbourhood. That fire was quickly extinguished.