Electrical fire causes $330,000 in damage
Posted Mar 4, 2014 04:21:45 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Woolwich Fire Department says a damaged electrical wire is to blame for a fire that destroyed a home on Monday afternoon.
Fire fighters were called to the home on Durant Road shortly after noon on Monday, and it took nearly sixty fire fighters almost nine hours to put out the stubborn blaze.
“We’re saying the possible cause was a deteriorated wiring” said Rick Pedersen, Township of Woolwich Fire Chief. “It’s pretty hard to pinpoint exactly the cause. That was the only power source back to the area where we thought the origin of the fire was.”
The fire caused around $330,000 in damage, and the home is a complete loss. Pederson adds that the fire was stubborn and took four different fire departments several hours to put out the blaze.
“We had a hard time getting to the fire because of the long lane way. We had to truck in about 16 loads of water in from Breslau to fight the fire, so it was a little delay on getting adequate water supply to fight the fire” says Pederson. “It was very cold and our pumps were starting to freeze. We had to spend some time on making sure out apparatuses weren’t freezing up.”
Luckily, the couple renting the home were not there at the time. Don Lee and Beth Ingaldson say they don’t have insurance and that they’ve been struggling the past three years as Beth has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. I am being investigated for just about the last year. They think I may have another cancer so I’ve been back and forth to Sunnybrook Hospital, so they’re trying to figure out what’s going on” says Beth. “The chemo and radiation treatment was finished. Then I had surgery and then I started getting sick again. I was refered to Sunnybrook to where I’ve been seeing a specialist where they’re trying to figure out what’s going on. I haven’t been working, so financially we’ve been struggling.”
570 News has learned that a trust fund is being set up for the couple. We’ll have more information as soon as that becomes available.
