Tenants escape early morning blaze in Yarmouth
Numerous departments responded to stubborn pre-dawn fire
A stubborn early-morning fire on Feb. 4, at a house on the corner of Cliff Street and Carleton Street in Yarmouth, required the efforts of firefighters from five departments: Yarmouth, Port Maitland, Lake Vaughan, Lakes & District and Wedgeport.
The occupants of the building all got out safely.
Yarmouth platoon chief Peter Winship says it was a big fire.
"In order to get the manpower here we had to get multiple departments," he said. "The initial attack was to try to go through the exterior window."
Smoke billowed out a window on the upper level of the two-storey home. Flames broke through the roof as the fire progressed upstairs, slowly moving to the rear of the house.
An aerial ladder truck helped to drench the flames from above. Powerful streams of water ripped the shingles off the roof and a steady torrent of water poured off the eaves. Every time a new area flared up, firefighters were able to beat it down, preventing what could have been significant damage to nearby houses.
Firefighters were on the scene for many hours after the fire call was received at around 4 a.m. Most of Cliff Street and some of the side streets were closed to traffic as firefighting efforts went on.
Tristen Thibeau and Amy Sarginson are Carleton Street neighbours to the north of the charred remnants of the burned Cliff Street house. They watched the burning house with concern from the moment they became aware it was on fire.
"We smelled smoke around 3:50 a.m. We have a pup so we usually get up around that time anyway to take him out."
Thibeau said the house was recently purchased and renovations were underway. The first floor had been completed and new tenants moved in a few days ago.
The Canadian Red Cross assisted tenants of the building after the fire. It said two adults and a toddler who had only moved in last Friday have been displaced by the pre-dawn fire that heavily damaged the two-storey house containing two apartments in Yarmouth.
"A woman, her adult daughter and 22-month-old granddaughter will stay with a friend for now, and have been assisted with emergency purchases of clothing, food and some other basics by Canadian Red Cross volunteers who also provided a comfort toy for the child," a media release read.
"Their landlord, who was still renovating the vacant upstairs unit, has offered the family space in another Yarmouth apartment building," said the Red Cross. "A neighbour spotted the fire around 4 a.m. on the second storey of the building on Cliff Street and alerted the tenants, who escaped without injury."
Yarmouth resident Ashley Rozee is collecting items for the two women and a baby who resided in the first-floor apartment. The women require clothing sizes 18 pants, extra large shirts, size 9 shoes, women’s 3x/24 pants, 2x/3x shirts, size 18-24-month girl clothes, size 5 diapers and size 5 toddler shoes. The toddler also requires a jacket. Items can be dropped off at Canadian Dollar Store in the Yarmouth mall on Starrs Road.