A massive fire broke out at a subdivision under construction in east Oakville late Wednesday morning.
It occurred in the area of Dundas Street East and William Cutmore Boulevard, near Ninth Line.
Halton Regional Police said emergency crews responded to the scene at around 11:40 a.m.
Images and videos on social media showed thick black smoke rising from the scene and multiple homes engulfed in flames.
“What I can tell you is that there was 10 homes that were involved, as far as both in various stages of construction as well as various damage by fire,” Oakville Fire Chief Paul Boissonneault told Global News shortly after 1:30 p.m.
“We’re still in the early stages of trying to put a fire cause of determination to the incident. Our fire prevention officers are en route, and we have sent a message to the Office of the Fire Marshal.”
It’s not yet clear if the Ontario Fire Marshal will attend.
Boissonneault said some fire crews out in their response areas saw the smoke and headed to the blaze before calls even came in to 911.
“I would suggest that we had the fire under control in less than an hour and a half total,” he said, noting crews were still working to put out hotspots.
“Our crews did a good job in in trying to contain the the damage.”
More than 35 firefighters responded.
Boissonneault said there were workers at the scene at the time of the blaze, but it’s not clear if some were taking time for lunch.
“There were various trades that had been working in many, if not all, of the 10 units involved,” he said.
No construction workers were at any time trapped or needed to be rescued, he noted.
No injuries were reported in the incident, to civilians or firefighters.
“As far as the actual fire cause …we’ll have to do that through an appropriate investigation,” Boissonneault said.
“We do know that there were construction trades working within those areas from various trades. And obviously we know that some of those trades require devices … whether they be torches or things of that nature, that are involved in the construction process. But, until we can ensure that we have an accurate assessment of the fire cause of determination, I don’t want to put potential rumors out there. There’s many means that has to be looked at.”
He said it “certainly” looks like the fire was accidental in nature, but investigators will still work to rule out anything that may have been intentional.
Boissonneault said, with the homes under construction, materials that protect them from fire were not yet installed.
He said the warm weather Wednesday along with winds helped to drive the fire and spread it quickly.
He noted that smoke alarms are often not yet installed on homes under construction either, preventing early detection.
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