Family flees burning house
FIREFIGHTERS: ‘Ran right through the smoke and fire to get out’ neighbour says
Careless smoking is the suspected cause of a fire that forced a family of four from their home Saturday.
St. Catharines fire Chief Dave Wood said it’s difficult to pin down the exact cause of the blaze that badly damaged the exterior of the home at the intersection of Rykert Rd. and Cumming St., but investigators strongly suspect it was caused by improperly throwing away smoking materials.
The fire began shortly after 2 p.m., Wood said, on the landing of the wooden stairs leading up to the back door of the residence.
Neighbour Fred Villeneuve said it was the shouting and smell of smoke that caused him to step outside to see what was happening.
“I saw the stairs on fire, but it was a small fire,” he said. “So I went inside to get a bucket of water, and when I came out the entire back was on fire. It was really going.”
A few doors down, Gerald Perry was sitting down to watch a baseball game on TV when he heard the commotion.
“I ran over and was going to go up the stairs, but there was so much fire and smoke there was no way I could do it,” he said. “So I started to pound on the back door (on the ground level).”
I ran over and was going to go up the stairs, but there was so much fire and smoke there was no way I could do it.” Neighbour Gerald Perry
Perry said he heard a loud bang from inside the building, which he though might have been plastic water bottles exploding in the heat. A moment later, the occupants of the house and their children came out.
“They ran right through the smoke and fire to get out,” Perry said.
Wood said the family was unharmed.
The flames, however, managed to get into the home through a vent. Although firefighters quickly knocked down the blaze, there was some smoke damage in the house.
The family is in the care of the Red Cross until the building can be cleaned and made safe for use, he said.
There were working smoke and CO2 alarms in the house, he said.