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A mother and her two daughters escaped a major house fire in downtown Hull, Que., shortly before it destroyed two homes Friday afternoon.
The fire broke out around 1:30 p.m. at 104 Leduc St., and by around 2:15 p.m. it had spread to a second house. By the time firefighters got the blaze under control around 3:30 p.m., it appeared a third structure had suffered fire damage.
Mother of two Natalie Gladu said she barely made it out.
"I was in the house getting lunch ready for my daughters and all of a sudden I started hearing guys screaming 'Fire! Fire! Fire!'" Gladu said.
"A guy ran into my house and told me to get out. I told him I couldn't because I have two babies, so somebody grabbed one of my daughters with a blanket and I grabbed the other one … then the flames just came spitting out."
Nobody was injured in the fire.
Sharon Pare watched the fire from the 20th floor of a nearby office building.
She said flames at times leapt twice the height of the houses.
Ottawa firefighters were called in to assist Gatineau fire crews. Firefighters have yet to release an estimate of how much the damage was done.