Structure fire totals Highbury School Road home
New Minas fire chief says unoccupied Canaan home a complete loss
A house on Highbury School Road in Canaan has been deemed a total loss after fire tore through it on Dec. 19
New Minas Volunteer Fire Department fire chief Jim Redmond confirmed the fire was called in at 3:42 p.m. and his department was on scene by 3:48 p.m. A mutual aid call was put out to Kentville’s department shortly after, and later to Greenwich and Wolfville departments.
Redmond said the fire was “extensively involved” before firefighters arrived at the scene, and had probably been burning for a couple of hours before it was reported.
“Smoke was coming all around the outer perimeter of the house. And before it was called in, it had burned through the abovekitchen floor, and up into the attic space,” he said.
EHS and RCMP were also on scene around 3:50 p.m., and power was confirmed to have been disconnected by 4:10 p.m.
Firefighters were able to fight the fire from inside the house at the scene and successfully extinguished it. But Redmond said the building’s loss was cemented before firefighters arrived due to the length of time that passed before the fire was called in.
He said his department has determined the cause was “electrical in nature, unless further investigation proves otherwise.”
“The building was uninhabited since December of last year, but there was still power and heat on at the building,” he said.
New Minas firefighters returned to their station at 7:57 p.m.
Redmond also confirmed a firefighter was sent to the hospital Dec. 19 after suffering an asthma attack at the scene. The firefighter was released that same night.
Redmond also said the fire marshal and RCMP will not be investigating the scene further at this time.
“We’ve done our own investigation, and we’ve got trained investigators in our department. There’s no need to go any further,” he said.