Garage extensively damaged by fire in Edmonton’s Alberta Avenue neighbourhood

A woman running for city council in the upcoming municipal election said she’s been left scrambling after many of her campaign signs and flyers were destroyed by fire.

Just after 6:20 a.m. Monday, Edmonton Fire Rescue Services received a 911 call about a garage fire in the area of 112 Avenue and 94 Street.

The caller said they saw flames and smoke coming from the garage. Fire crews arrived on scene within minutes and quickly doused the blaze.

The garage belongs to Liz John-West, who is running for council in the Métis riding. She said she was up early Monday morning working on her campaign when she heard a bang and some crackling.

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“I’m going, ‘Where is that sound coming from?’ And then I looked out my hallway window and fire was in our backyard,” she said. “I woke up my daughter and my husband, grabbed our stuff and ran out of the house.

“It’s really discouraging. We’ve lived in the community for 30-odd years and we haven’t experienced this type of loss. And when you look at the debris it almost feels like a war zone. You just kind of are present in that moment, looking at all of your stuff being burnt down.

“It feels horrible… unsafe.”

John-West said the large red structure was more than just a place for their vehicles.

“Jeff made such a unique garage — a storey and a half — the red garage. It was a little bit of a gathering space upstairs for our kids when they were younger and of course, the vehicles and a lot of my election stuff was in the garage as well — the lawn signs and flyers. And of course, all of that is gone now.”

The candidate said she recently ordered more flyers to hand out in a few neighbourhoods they have yet to visit. She was set to meet with her campaign volunteers later Monday to decide how they can reach the people in these neighbourhoods with the campaign flyers.

No one was in the garage at the time and no one was injured.

“Our house is good, our families are safe so if there’s anything beautiful out of it, that is the beauty of it, that we are all safe,” John-West said.

EFRS did not have any information Monday morning on how the fire may have started. The cost of the damage is not yet known.