FORT FRANCES – Early Sunday morning a fire broke out at Lady Frances Place, a housing unit owned by the District of Rainy River Services Board.
Rumours on social media spread quickly that a Molotov cocktail was thrown through an apartment window, but fire Chief Dave Robertson confirmed that is not true.
“We see right now absolutely no arson. It was not a firebomb. As best we can surmise, ground zero for the firebomb idea was on social media,” Robertson said.
Someone close to the incident heard glass breaking and saw smoke billowing from a window. From there, this person assumed someone threw a Molotov cocktail into the apartment, he said.
Afterward, the rumours ignited on social media.
Robertson, on the other hand, dismisses the rumour entirely.
Robertson explained, “It looks like the fire was contained within one apartment. When it's contained in a smaller area, not only do you get pressurized smoke, you get a heat build-up. When that heat builds up to a certain point, depending on the quality of the glass, and the fact that it was most likely single pane, it'll fail.”
“That would be the time of the breaking glass and you have the introduction of oxygen into the room and you get a greater amount of fire and a release of smoke.”
He also stated the actual cause of the fire is still being investigated.
Robertson thanked the Fort Frances Fire crew who attended the fire. It was their swift action that allowed for the residents to be evacuated safely and the fire was contained to a single apartment.
He thanked the team for “the quality of the work that was done by the Fort Frances fire crew. It was a combination of career and volunteer firefighters.”
“Any time you have a multi-unit occupancy, you're not evacuating or looking for one set of victims. You're looking for as many apartments as there are. That's how many sets of victims you're caring for. It kind of adds an extra level of aggressiveness towards getting water on that fire.”
Robertson said his team did an excellent job in responding to the fire, and “most importantly, proof in the pudding, no citizens got hurt, no firefighters got hurt.”
As for the residents that were evacuated, the District of Rainy River Services Board said they “have been keeping tenants from Lady Frances Place well informed and they have been patient and understanding. We are providing support and making sure their needs are being met.”
DRRSB also stated that they do not have a date for when the residents will be able to return home.
