Antoinette Dick was asleep in her northeast Edmonton home on Saturday morning when a light woke her up just before 4 a.m.

“All of a sudden, my eyes just went bright and I looked out the window and there was a fire,” Dick said.

That fire was from propane heaters at a construction site behind Dick’s house near the Clareview Recreation Centre, around 138 Avenue and 37 Street.

The blaze was so intense, it was shooting flames “40 to 50 feet in the air” when first responders arrived.

“We responded to reports of an explosion,” District Chief Cory Cremer said.

“Unconfirmed whether there was an explosion or not, but we did have some commercial propane heaters on fire.”

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Cremer said about 20 people — one of whom was Dick — were evacuated from nearby homes.

The propane company was also called to help mitigate the fire.

Neighbours are glad the sudden — and bright — wakeup call wasn’t more serious.

“A little scary because it could’ve exploded and that would’ve rocked a few blocks, probably,” said Margaret Belleperche, another person who had to leave their house.

As of Saturday afternoon, there’s no word on a cause or impact on nearby buildings.

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Edmonton fire crews were called out around 5 a.m. on Thursday to reports of a fire in the old Jasper Place Hotel, located at 15326 Stony Plain Rd.

Responding firefighters kept a steady stream of water on the flames and smoke billowing out of the windows of the abandoned hotel.

Large pools of water also began forming on the streets and sidewalks around the burning building.

Edmonton police were also called in to block off several streets in the area and people were asked to avoid the area to give emergency crews room to work.

The hotel previously caught fire in December of 2019 while there were still 41 people living in it.

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The damage from that fire resulted in it being declared unfit for human habitation by Alberta Health Services.

Some of the building materials were also confirmed to contain asbestos that was damaged by the fire.

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Ken Clements, who lives in Edmonton’s Boyle-McCauley neighbourhood, recounted what he saw early Monday morning when a fire broke out in a neighbour’s house, near 93 Street and 105 Avenue.

“I woke up, because I usually get up around 5:30 anyways. I seen lights outside my window and I seen the smoke coming out of the corner of the house,” he said.

“I figured the house was on fire. I figured it was going to burn to the ground because they’re old houses. But it didn’t. They got it out before it burnt to the ground.

“About two hours they were working on the inside, and then one guy came out and said, ‘I think there’s a body in here,’ one of the firemen. She was in the back bedroom, from what I understand.”

Investigators had to use DNA evidence to identify the victim, and while her death has been ruled a homicide, police won’t say how she was killed.

Family members have identified her as 39-year-old Teresa Sara Katcheech, a mother of two sons, ages 11 and 17 and an 8-year-old daughter who were being raised by a cousin of hers, although she still visited with them.

“I just started crying,” said her oldest son Damen about learning of the death of his mom.  “That was my biggest fear, losing my mom.”

Her family remembers her as funny, outspoken, kind and beautiful and they set up a memorial of flowers, cards and photos outside the house where she died.

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“I was missing her a lot,” said younger son Kieran. “I wrote, ‘I love you Mom’ and then I wrote, ‘Love, Kieran.’”

“I just don’t get how you could do that to mom, and like whoever did it I hope that every day that they go to bed (with) my mom on their mind. Every day that they wake up, my mom’s on their mind,” said Damen.

“For her life to end this way is just — it’s not fair,” said her cousin Jeslyn Tremblay.

Teresa’s family members say she didn’t live at the house where her body was found.

But a neighbour told Global News a man who did was evicted three months ago, but was still squatting there.

The victim’s family have set up a GoFundMe campaign has been set up to help cover the cost of  a “celebration of life” for her and to support her children.

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