Humboldt fire crews were called away from their charity event to fight a fire this weekend.
About 15 firefighters with the Humboldt Fire Department responded to a call of a house fire at about 11:30 p.m. on February 4, the night of the annual Humboldt Emergency Services Charity Event.
It was a tricky fire to fight, indicated Fire Chief Norbert LeBlanc.
When crews arrived on scene at the house at 1009 Main St. in Humboldt, the back of the home was fully involved in the flame. The fire had actually crept up the outside walls up to the peak of the one and a half storey house and was burning brightly there.
LeBlanc believes the blaze started in between the storeys of the house, with an overloaded circuit that shorted out.
"The fire was burning for quite a while before anyone noticed it," LeBlanc said.
No one was home when fire crews arrived at the house, and LeBlanc reported that it is unclear whether anyone was actually living at the house.The 9-1-1 call had been placed by a neighbour, who noticed smoke.
"It was a good thing the neighbour called," LeBlanc said.
It was an unusual fire, LeBlanc indicated.
"It took a long time to figure out where the fire was moving," LeBlanc noted, even with the use of the thermal imaging camera. "It was a tough fire to figure out."
From inside the house, between the storeys, the fire travelled outside, and up the side of the house burning siding along the way. Finally, it got into the soffit near the roof. From there, it started small fires between each roof joist.
To fight it, "we had to cut between each ceiling joist," said LeBlanc, and into the walls of the second storey. Not wanting to damage the roof, that meant firefighters cut through from inside the house, which proved to be very difficult, due to the age and construction of the house.
The house, built in the 1950s, had shavings, shiplap, lathe and plaster to deal with and get through to put the fire out completely.
"The walls were hard to get into," LeBlanc said.
To complicate matters further, the fire had burned down towards the gas meter outside the house, and had melted a rubber valve on the meter, which meant it was leaking, even though the fire department had shut off the gas line.
SaskEnergy was called and a crew came out and capped the line, LeBlanc reported.
The fire is believed to have been burning for quite some time before it was noticed. Between the fire, the smoke and the water, "there was quite a bit of damage in the house," LeBlanc said, estimating a dollar amount at about $100,000.
Crews were on scene for about three hours, putting out the fire and cleaning up, missing the final hours of their charity event.
