Couple die in house fire
Investigation continues into Brighton fire
BRIGHTON - An elderly married couple were killed in a house fire Wednesday morning in Brighton, about 80 kilometres southeast of Peterborough.
The Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office has been called in to determine the cause of the fire at 133 Harbour St.
Brighton Fire Chief Lloyd Hutchinson was the first to arrive on the scene after the dispatcher called his fire department around 7:25 a.m. Wednesday.
The fire was “fully involved” and had broken through the roof on the south side of the building when he tried to enter the house, but “the flames were so intense I couldn’t get in,” he said.
“We were informed by the neighbours there could be a possibility of people inside.”
Firefighters attacked the fire from the front and were able to knock it down within a half-hour, he said.
Two victims, a man and a woman, were found inside.
Their names were not released pending notification of relatives.
Northumberland OPP Constable Steve Bates confirmed the two fire victims were adults.
Bates said the OPP Crime Unit is investigating as is standard procedure in fatal fires.
Grant Fleming was the nextdoor neighbour who called 911.
He said a couple driving by stopped at the house when they spotted the fire. He heard a woman yell “call 911” and a man “pounding on the door.”
When Fleming looked through the window, he saw flames “coming up the back of (his neighbours’) house, at the far end, where the master bedroom is,” he said. “It was just a mass of flame.”
He said a man and a woman, both in their “late 60s,” lived in the house. He only knew them by their first names.
They were tenants who had moved in about three months ago from Brockville.
“I didn’t know them that well,” Fleming said, but they were “a friendly couple.”
“I’m just literally shocked (by what has) happened.”
Fleming, who lives alone, said he was “lucky” the wind was blowing north and not in the direction of his house.
“I was really worried, all my siding ... all melted,” said the 77-yearold resident. “But if the wind had been coming (his way) it would have caught the house on fire for sure.”
Firefighters from Trent Hills and Cramahe Township provided backup at Brighton’s two fire halls while Brighton firefighters were at the scene.
The Municipality of Brighton issued a news release in which Hutchinson and Mayor Mark Walas informed asked people to avoid the area Wednesday while the cleanup continues.
“We are deeply saddened by these events and offer our sincere condolences to the relatives and friends of those who lost their lives this morning,” the release read.
Hutchinson estimated the last fatal fire to have happened in Brighton was at least 25 years ago.
Although it has not yet been determined if there were working fire/smoke alarms at the residence, Hutchinson reminded the public: “Please check your smoke alarms.”
Asked if he had heard a smoke alarm go off, Fleming said he “didn’t hear anything.”