Cause of fire determined
Fatal North Sydney blaze deemed accidental
Investigators with the Office of the Fire Marshal have determined a fatal North Sydney fire was accidental.
An official with the Office of the Fire Marshal says the fire started in the basement of 329 Seaview Dr. as a result of an electrical issue.
“That’s the details we can release without releasing any privacy (information),” said Krista Higdon, spokesperson for the Office of the Fire Marshal.
The fire broke out just before 1 p.m. on March 1 and caused significant damage to the inside of the bungalow-style home.
There was smoke coming from both the front and back of the home when the fire department arrived on scene.
Although no flames were initially visible, Chief Lloyd MacIntosh of the North Sydney Volunteer Fire Department, told the Cape Breton Post on March 2, the blaze took firefighters three house to extinguish.
One man was found dead inside the burning building. His name has not been released.
Firefighters entered the home, found the male inside and moved him outside and fought the fire, said MacIntosh.
“We had an attack team of three people, including one at the front door and an attack team of two or more go in the back door,” he said.
“They were searching for the person and they found the person relatively quickly and they moved him to the outside.”
Investigators with the Office of the Fire Marshal, Cape Breton Regional Police and North Sydney Volunteer Fire Department returned to the scene the day after the fire to determine its cause.
The cause of the fire was officially released on Wednesday.
With daylight time starting on Sunday, MacIntosh reminds residents to check and change batteries in smoke detectors in homes and businesses.
“You can check them any time you want, most smoke detectors have a test button on them and you press the button in and hold it for a moment and it alerts that it’s actually working,” said MacIntosh.
“The easy times to remember to change (batteries) are with the fall back and spring forward (time changes), but you also have to remember that smoke detectors have a life as well — they should not be kept any longer than 10 years.”