Fire crews and RCMP investigators haven’t ruled out that Surrey blaze that forced 11 people, including children, from their homes early Tuesday morning, could be suspicious.

The fire broke out in a single-family home on 138 Street near 58A Avenue in the Newton neighbourhood just before 1:30 a.m. The flames quickly jumped to a roof of the neighbouring home on the cul-de-sac.

Because of the way the flames spread, firefighters said the family of five in the second home were alerted by neighbours, not smoke detectors.

“If the neighbours didn’t detected it early enough, we may have had injuries or life loss,” said Battalion Chief Spiros Pegios.

Dennis Clark, who lives a few houses away, recorded video of up to 24 firefighters attacking both homes with hoses from the ground and a ladder, and trying to prevent flames and embers from spreading further.

“My landlady came and pounded on the door to wake me up,” Clark said. “It was terrifying.”

The family who lives in the home where the fire originated, firefighters said, had been out watching the Canada Day fireworks in Cloverdale, and hadn’t returned home by the time of the blaze.

But surveillance video from a home diagonally behind the scene shows a light going on in the backyard at approximately 11:10pm, and a shadowy figure walking one way, then another around the home’s exterior, just over two hours before the fire sparked, when fire crews say no one was home.

Nelson Vizcara, whose home security system recorded the video, says he plans to share it with police.

“I feel lucky, because my house is still standing,” Vizcara said, adding that he and his wife and children evacuated to a hotel overnight before being told it was safe to return home.

The heat was intense enough to melt siding on his neighbours’ homes and shatter several windows.

Incredibly, no one was hurt.

Neighbour Dennis Clark told CTV News when fire fighters arrived one told him them were worried they might lose the whole block because of dry trees and pine needles on the ground.

Fire crews say the first house has been lost to flames and will need to be demolished.

Engineers were on scene Tuesday assessing damage to the second home, which appeared to be significant.