Front step all that remains of farmhouse
Dunblane couple was away when fire destroyed their home
DUNBLANE – Firefighters from two West Prince departments spent over two hours Friday afternoon fighting a house fire at a home that was already too far gone to save when they arrived.
The two-story, four-bedroom house had been levelled when Cathy Bryer arrived home. “Don just came home, saw everybody here and the house was burning, and he called me at work and said come home, and this is what I came home to,” she said.
He had gone shopping and had taken their dog with him.
“Big beautiful farm house. We just redid it all,” she said as firefighters rolled up their hoses. Nothing was salvaged. “Nothing but the front deck. Can you imagine? The front stairs. How does that happen?”
West Point fire chief Harvey Stewart said the call came in at 12:29 p.m. and West Point and O’Leary fire departments both responded.
“It was fully engulfed when they pulled in.”
The cause of the fire is not yet known. An investigator from the provincial fire marshal’s office was en route.
Bryer said the house is insured and they will definitely rebuild. They’ve lived there for 22 years.
She acknowledged the loss could have been so much worse.
“I’m so fortunate. I still have my husband and my puppy and my land.”
The fire was discovered by Tony Bulger, a neighbour. He heard a noise and looked out and saw the flames. It was his homestead for 44 years before the Bryers acquired it.
“A lot of memories,” he acknowledged.
Flames, he said were already shooting out the windows and the roof when he called in the alarm.