It was just before 6:30 am when a neighbour along Emily Street noticed the home across from her was on fire. The woman alerted the homeowner, who was able to get out safely.
According to Fire Captain Mike Bustos, the back of the home on Emily Street was fully engulfed when crews arrived.
“There was quite a bit of smoke and flames billowing from the back of the house,” Bustos said.
Sandra Chant, who lives a few doors down, says not much is left of the back of the home. “The back looks like it’s almost completely destroyed.”
Five trucks and more than 24 firefighters were called in to fight the blaze. Fire officials say the fire wasn’t easy to put out. In fact, it took crews about two hours to douse the flames and find the gut of the fire.
“This is an older home with a lot of sort of voids and layers of different building materials on it, so it was a nasty fire to fight. We had to cut a lot of openings up. This house is like swiss cheese right now,” Bustos said.
Crews haven’t determined exactly how the fire started, but they do know that it began somewhere in the back half of the two-and-a-half storey home.
After getting the fire under control, crews helped the homeowner gather some personal belongings, such as guitars, an amplifier and paperwork. After that, crews brought in the aerial ladder to help eliminate any hot spots from above.
The homeowner, who didn’t want to comment, waited in his vehicle with his two dogs.
Neighbour Chant walked over to see if he was ok. “Once I realized the dogs in the back of the truck were the ones from the fire, I brought them out some dog biscuits from our dog and some food samples.”
As for the home, Bustos can’t put a dollar amount on the damage, but admits it’s significant. “A lot of smoke damage throughout the front of the home, for sure, and a lot of water damage.”