Last night we returned from Ottawa at around 10:30pm, around 12:30am, I smelt smoke and checked out our back window to see if someone was burning something, a couple minutes later Sarah came running from the bedroom, yelling "FIRE!". She was already on the phone to 911, I ushered us outside only to see the townhouse across the way totally ablaze! Huge flames were coming from the top, pretty sure a bbq propane tank blew up as the fire spread. No one was hurt, and we had no damage, but 2 units are really burnt and the 2 units beside them have tons of water and smoke damage. We were evacuated until 3:30am. And then they were pumping water and smoke out of the units until around 5:00am. No idea what started the fire. The firefighters are still around investigating.
You can check out the "in-depth" report at CityTV News - click
UPDATE: Check out the photo of the damage to the main unit that caught fire. Apparently 4 units are burnt in the back and have severe water and smoke damage.
Fire at the Townes!
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Tuesday, August 08, 2006
4 comments:
Holy crap, dude! Glad that you and Sarah are OK... Those people with the water damage are probably as bad (if not worse) off from the people with the fire...
What're they gonna do? Rebuild those units? I remember when my parents lived in that townhome complex in Mississauga and one of the units caught fire across the street... Nearly took out the whole row, and 4 of the owners were out of their townhomes for 3-6 months...
I was chatting with some of the owners this morning. You are right, the water damage is really bad in 5 units.
The fire fighters had to make big holes in several of the the rooftop patios for the hoses so they could soak the interior structure of the units. From what I've heard the fire was spreading unit to unit through the interior above the bedroom ceilings and below the rooftop floor.
The sound of the rooftop floor collapsing is apparently what woke up the owners of the unit where the fire started.
It is a mess.
Your comments on the rooftop access is exactly what I remember from the incident where my parents lived. I wonder how common this is, and if there are any "barriers" between units (in the attics) to stop these fires from spreading so quickly?
By the way, those are the units across from your front door? Is that the end unit on the right of the pic?
Yeah, those are the units right across the way. So, when I came out I was pretty much face to face with the fire, but the other pic is the firefighters working from the deadend street to the east of that unit.
From what I understand, each unit is a self contained box made of concrete blocks to block sound and fire. Not sure about the bit just under the roof though. From the damage, it would appear that it is just a wood structure.
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