KENORA — Fire Chief David Pratt says a Tuesday night house fire on Rabbit Lake Road was unfortunate, but fire crews were able to extinguish the fire promptly.
Shortly after 7 p.m., a neighbour called fire services after smelling smoke emanating from the house.
The L-shaped dwelling had three attached apartments. The middle apartment was where there fire originated, Pratt said.
“On our arrival, the crews found heavy smoke coming out of the eaves. They looked in the one apartment and it was filled with smoke. So, [fire crews] made entry and did a primary search confirming there was nobody in the apartment of origin. Then checked the other two apartments to confirm again, that there were no persons trapped,” explained Pratt.
Pratt confirmed that there were no injuries to report.
Seeing that there were no occupants at the time, fire crews attacked the fire from the outside due to structural challenges.
“It appears the fire started in the back corner of the dwelling in the kitchen area and got up into the attic space, and then as I say this is an L-shaped building, there's no fire separations in the attic. So, it just travelled from the centre to both directions. By the time we got the fire contained the roof, for the most part, had fallen in onto the structure,” said Pratt.
Shortly after 1:30 a.m., the crew managed to put the fire out.
“The two subsequent apartments on either end have sustained a lot of smoke and water damage. I imagine a restoration company will be able to salvage most of their personal belongings. But, the apartment of origin is severely damaged and it's probably a total loss,” stated Pratt.
Pratt did acknowledge that the exact cause of the fire has yet to be determined as the investigation is still ongoing; however, he feels optimistic that there was minimal damage to the rest of the dwelling.
“It appears it started in the kitchen area. The fire got into the kitchen cabinets and then burned through the drywall or whatever the ceiling was made of and then got into the attic space. Then spread laterally in both directions. So, it was probably in the attic before anybody even knew, knew about the fire. It was well-involved by the time we got here; we believe. But we had a great response and the crew crews worked very hard and, got it extinguished, said Pratt.
