Saskatoon fire crews forced back by intense heat from basement blaze [Video]

A basement fire in Saskatoon’s Mayfair neighbourhood briefly had crews on their back foot on Thursday night, as the area became too hot to work inside.

Firefighters were called to the home on the 1300 block of Avenue F North around 11:24 p.m., according to a Saskatoon Fire Department news release.

First responders saw smoke rising from a heavy chimney stack and through the basement windows when they arrived, the fire department says.

A team of firefighters ran hose lines into the house to spray the basement fire from inside, but just minutes into their attack, the fire department said they were forced to retreat due to “high heat and unsafe conditions.”

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Crews opted to douse the flames from the outside, through the basement windows, to cool the structure before returning into the basement.

Fire crews …