A large house fire forced several people from their homes in central Saskatoon Friday evening, but city firefighters say no one was injured.

The Saskatoon Fire Department received multiple reports of a fire at a house and garage at 408 24th St. W. around 5:40 p.m. Friday, the department said in a news release later that evening .

A large three-story house, garage and storage sheds caught fire, and fire crews say they launched an “aggressive exterior attack.” They called for another fire truck and a ladder shortly after 6 p.m., and the department said the fire was under control by 8:30 p.m.

A photo of the fire shared on social media shows a large, modern-looking house with flames on the roof sending a plume of black smoke into the sky. The house appeared to have several balconies and a separate entrance to the basement.

Daelyn Stewart says she and her friend Allisa Wiebe were sitting in the living room of the house next door when she saw flames.

“And all of a sudden the flames got bigger, and I turned to my friend and said, ‘Call 911,’ so we were looking for our phones, and the fire next door didn’t is just getting bigger and bigger,” she told CBC at the scene.

She says they panicked and left the house in less than two minutes.

“It got out of hand really quickly. So I grabbed the kids and we left,” Stewart said.

“By the time we were able to get through to 911, the disease had already spread to the roof,” added Wiebe, who said he also heard a loud bang at one point. Their dog followed them out of the house, but they had to run back in to get a cat and later some formula, she said.

Both women said they believe a family was renting the basement of the home that caught fire and that the tenants and owner of the home, along with their pets, all escaped unharmed. and safe. Firefighters arrived on scene quickly after their call, they said.

Around 6:30 p.m., a CBC reporter at the scene saw fire crews dousing the charred roof of the house with water from a ladder, while several residents watched from across the street. street as smoke continued to billow from the house. Firefighters also went to the door of a neighboring house.

Firefighters say they are still investigating the cause of the fire. CBC News has contacted the ministry for more information on the extent of the damage and the impact on residents of the house and neighboring homes.