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Muskoka Lakes Fire Chief at fire in 30 seconds – but no water

MUSKOKA LAKES TOWNSHIP, ON – It was the right time and place for Muskoka Lakes Fire Chief Ryan Murrell, but just no water.

Muskoka Lakes Fire Chief Ryan Murrell was on the scene quickly and tried to put the fire out with a chemical extinguisher. (MJ Hatton Photo)

The Chief happened to be driving along Highway 118 near the Villas of Muskoka around 5:30pm yesterday afternoon when he saw a pickup truck smoking and flames starting to build.

He had heard a call for the incident come over his radio, he updated the location and did what any good fireman does, grabbed an extinguisher and proceeded to put it out – somewhat.

“I tried to put it out with one of our dry-chem extinguishers,” he explained. “But we didn’t have enough cooling power which you get from water, to keep the fire out.”

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Once he ran out of extinguishers it was down to waiting for his volunteer crew to assemble and arrive on-scene.  He said typical response time is around eight to 10 minutes so being on-site 30 seconds after the call was made was pure luck.

As the fire grew it began melting the pavement, and a nearby light pole and a tree were damaged as well.

One witness, Michael John Hatton told MyMuskokaNow.com that when he rolled up on the scene traffic was slowing and people were wondering what they could do to help.

“There was a lot of smoke,” he recalled. “It was coming across the highway and you definitely slowed down. Then the fire took hold and smoke somewhat cleared. Then you started seeing flames and then you started hearing explosions.”

There were items in the truck that were combustible as well, and Murrell said it is a good example of why you need to be careful around a vehicle fire.

“All the popping sounds people heard, there were multiple small aerosol cans in the back,” he explained. “There were also four large explosions due to the tires as they melted through.”

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