MCDOUGALL, ON – The structure still stands but a McDougall home is being called a complete loss after a fire “gutted” the entire inside.
The call came in just before 12:30 p.m. yesterday for a blaze on Lorimer Lake Road. McDougall Fire Chief Brian Leduc told the MyParrySoundNOW.com newsroom it took McDougall, Parry Sound and McKellar firefighters seven hours to put out.
“It was some of the heaviest smoke I have ever seen at a residential fire,” Leduc said. “It was all contained. There were no places where it actually broke out and there were flames. It was a tough fight.”
According to Leduc, there were two workers doing maintenance to the home at the time the fire started and the family who lives in the residence weren’t home. Both workers escaped without injury.
Leduc added that none of the fire crew were harmed either.
“Other than cold and exhaustion and all the other stuff that goes with fighting fires in those temperatures,” Leduc said. “Everything went pretty much according to our process.”
Leduc said a cause hasn’t been determined yet as the investigation continues, but did give a rough estimate of between $250,000 and $300,000 in damages.
“All the contents on the inside, from what I saw with my last look, I doubt there’s anything salvageable,” Leduc said.
He added there were other homes nearby but since the fire was more of an inside smoulder, there wasn’t much concern about it spreading.
Leduc had high praise for not just his crew, but the McKellar and Parry Sound firefighters who helped out.
“They all hustled and worked really hard through tough conditions and a tough fire,” Leduc said. “There was lots of chainsawing and cutting. Near the end, once the sun went down and it started to really get colder we had problems with freeze-up of equipment, but we battled through.”