PIKANGIKUM FIRST NATION — One person has died after a house fire earlier this week.
The Independent First Nations Alliance on Friday confirmed the incident, which happened during the morning of July 4.
The statement said 11 others in the house were safe, with Ontario Provincial Police officers responding with fire extinguishers within minutes and Pikangikum Peacekeepers and firefighters containing the fire within 30 minutes.
“This is another tragedy,” Pikangikum Chief Shirley Lynne Keeper said in a statement.
“The fast-action response from all of those involved saved many lives, but sadly, we have lost another community member. This continues to affect us greatly, impacting every one of us. We appreciate the support of IFNA who has arrived in the community and has been working with government agencies to pursue sustainable funding for our community responders and to ensure supports are in place so we can prevent experiencing such loss.”
Nick Rhone, IFNA Integrated Emergency Services Director & Regional Fire Rescue Chief, said “since the last fatal house fire, we have continued to work in partnership with the community, Indigenous Services Canada, the Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal, the Indigenous Fire Marshal Service, and the OPP to improve fire safety and response including ongoing smoke alarm installations.”
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
