Calgary’s historic Up! balloon house goes up in flames
Calgary’s historic Enoch house was engulfed in flames early Saturday morning. The more than century-old building alerted local residents around 7 a.m. when smoke billowed into the frosty morning air. Fingers crossed that this Heritage building will survive the blaze.
You might recognize the house from this past year’s Beakerhead, where it was nearly half covered in balloons. It quickly became a favourite for photographers, festival-goers, and random walkers-by alike.
The Enoch house was built in 1904-05, and has been owned by the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation for a few years now. It’s since become a beacon of a Calgary time gone by.
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Not only did the firefighting crews need to put out the blaze to save what they could of the house, the ridiculously cold temperature meant they needed to fight on rotation to prevent frostbite or worse.
No news yet as to what started the fire, and at this point all we can hope for is that no one was hurt.
We’ll keep an eye out for any further details. Stay safe out there, Calgary!
