The owner of a house in Avening that caught fire last week graciously allowed the site to serve as a training ground for new fire inspectors.
At 11:30 pm on Thursday, January 23, Clearview Fire Department received a call about a structure fire at a residence in Avening.
Acting Deputy Fire Chief Roree Payment arrived first on the scene where resident Brian Carruthers and his two sons were safely out of the house.
By 1:30 am, 24 firefighters (plus Acting Fire Chief, Colin Shewell, and Payment) had the fire under control using eight pumpers and tankers from all five fire halls in Clearview.
The next day, eight fire investigators-in-training from the Office of the Fire Marshall in Midhurst arrived on the scene for a mock investigation.
The OFM had approached Clearview Fire Department in December about providing teaching opportunities for people learning to be fire investigators.
“Thanks to the Fire Department and the graciousness of the homeowner, we were able to provide training about fire patterns and development,” said Jeff Minton, Fire Investigator Supervisor at the OFM. “Our guys need these opportunities for training.”
On Friday, January 24, Minton led the students (most of whom are police officers) through a systematic process of gathering evidence to determine the cause of the fire.
“There was nothing abnormal about this fire,” said Shewell. “it went the way a fire ‘should’ go. We attacked it the way we would any other, so it was a good learning experience for them.”
The cause of the fire appeared to be a damaged chimney, Shewell said. The fire had extended from the fireplace into the walls, where it climbed from the main floor to the attic, Shewell said. He estimated the fire caused about $250,000 in damage to the home.
“Because it is an older construction, it had no fire stops,” explained Shewell. “It was the seventh generation of the family who lived in that home.”
The Fire Department was called after a passing motorist who noticed flames behind the building stopped her car, knocked on the door of the home and called 911. Smoke alarms activated as soon as the woman arrived at the door.
Airport Road was closed from3/4 Sideroad to the south and 6/7 Sideroad to the north from 11:30 pm to 5:30 am so the Fire Department could transport water to the fire.
The trucks made 10 trips carrying water from the south end of Creemore to the house in Avening.
Due to the extreme cold weather (-26 degrees at the scene), the Fire Department used circulating crews of firefighters.