Loud bangs heard at Ancaster fire scene where woman’s body found

Hamilton police say the death of a woman who was found at the scene of a shed fire in Ancaster is not being considered suspicious.

Firefighters responded to 282 Robina Rd. — a quiet street nestled between Fiddlers Green Road and Hamilton Golf and Country Club — around 10:30 p.m. Friday to find a fully-involved wooden shed fire at the back of the property.

“During suppression activities, a search was conducted and a victim was found,” the fire department said in a media release.

Minutes before, a loud bang had brought Norman and Marilyn Corneilse to the front window of their Robina Road home.

But it wasn’t until the next day that they learned of the grisly discovery made just down the road from them.

The couple initially thought the noise could be from a fireworks display for Canada’s 150th or a propane tank explosion.

“I was thinking that didn’t sound like a firecracker — it was too much of a loud thud,” said Norman. Then they heard another bang. They moved to their front porch and saw what they say looked like a roman candle going off above the fence line in the backyard at the property across the road.

“Sparks going up, the red-orange glowing coming quite far up beyond the trees,” he said.

Paramedics did not transport a patient from the scene, said Hamilton Paramedic Service supervisor Jeff Dunford.

The patient was “obviously dead,” he added. The fire did not spread to the home on the property but did damage an adjacent fence, said OFM investigator Dave Emberlin. People were in the home at the time of the fire, but he said he believed it was called in by a neighbour.

The cause of death and the cause of the fire were not yet known, he said at the site Saturday.

Jonathan Carron, who lives down the street from the scene of the fire, said he was watching television with his wife Friday night when he heard three loud bangs.

“We were concerned and we didn’t know exactly what it was,” he said.

Carron said he thought it could be an exploding gasoline or propane tank.

He walked to the corner and that’s when he said he saw orange flames shooting up over the trees and embers aloft.

“I think it was more shocking this morning,” he said Saturday after learning a body had been found.

Neighbours said they don’t know who lives in the house, but they believe it has been a rental property since the former owner sold it a couple of years ago.

An anthropologist was expected to attend the scene to assist with “recovery of the remains”, Emberlin said. An autopsy was scheduled for Sunday. The woman’s next of kin have been notified and her identity will not be released at this time, police said. Police said Monday they have finished their investigation and are no longer at the scene.