Residents displaced
Red Cross assisting after Colchester County fires.
Red Cross volunteers have come to the assistance of a number of people displaced by two fires earlier this week.
In a Murray Siding blaze, a couple and three children, age 11 to 17, are staying with relatives and received some emergency support from the Canadian Red Cross pending an assessment by insurers.
Red Cross volunteers also arranged emergency lodging and clothing purchases for a person among four adults displaced by a fire late Sunday that extensively damaged a house containing four apartments at 18 Laurie St. in Truro. Others made their own arrangements to stay with relatives or friends.
Salmon River, Valley Kemptown, Bible Hill and Truro firefighters saved most of the house in Murray Siding after spending much of the night at the fire on Laurie Street in Truro’s east end.
A driver, passing by the single level bungalow at 727 Salmon River Road in Murray Siding, called 911 about 10:30 a.m. Monday.
Smoke was billowing from three or four parts of the home when firefighters arrived.
Salmon River fire chief Blaine McNutt says firefighters donned breathing apparatus, entered the building and quickly knocked down the working fire in the front of the house.
“No one was hurt. It appears at this point that the fire was electrical and it may have started in the basement but we can’t say for sure yet,” he said at the fire scene.
McNutt said the home suffered extensive fire and smoke damage. No one was home at the time. The Red Cross is also helping the residents of a two-story house on Laurie Street after a fire there late last night. McNutt said most of his firefighters had just gotten home from the Truro fire about 3 or 4 a.m.
“This is unusual to have so many fires so close together at this time of year,” he said. “You expect it in January or February. But there is nothing suspicious about this fire (in Murray Siding). Just unusual.”
Cobequid and Truro also responded to a fire alarm activation in Lower Truro at the same time as the Laurie Street fire but no fire or other problems were discovered.
“This is unusual to have so many fires so close together at this time of year,” he said. “you expect it in January or February. but there is nothing suspicious about this fire (in Murray siding). Just unusual.”
Salmon River fire chief Blaine McNutt