Several pets died following a house fire just north of Peterborough, Ont., on Sunday afternoon.
Around 3:30 p.m., Selwyn Township firefighters responded to a report of a house fire on Hillis Road, off Fife’s Bay Road.
Deputy fire chief Howard Jinkerson says the family was away doing errands when the blaze broke out.
“It was a fully involved structure fire when our crews arrived on scene,” he said. “We confirmed no one was in the home at the time as well and then we proceeded with a defensive attack.”
However, he said several pets did not survive the fire.
Jinkerson says a passerby on a nearby road noticed smoke and first verified the smoke was coming from a home before calling 911.
He noted the incident also sparked a grass fire near the home.
“There was a heavy wind at the time, too, so the smoke was kind of unpredictable,” he said. “So the first arriving firefighters did look after a grass fire around the structure and then proceeded to go at the structure just to make sure it didn’t spread and then we’d have two big issues.”
Jinkerson said that given the extent of the destruction, it wasn’t safe for firefighters to enter the building.
“So we brought in heavy machinery to bring down the second floor to get the products on the second floor put out,” he said.
He said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Given the challenges, Jinkerson applauded the volunteer firefighters from five fire halls who responded to the call.
“We had a great response and I really appreciate our volunteer firefighters leaving Easter dinners and holiday dinners for this,” he said.
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