Fire crews were on the scene battling a significant structure fire at a house in Battleford Tuesday.
The fire happened at 222 28th Street in Battleford. According to the town’s public safety officer Ross MacAngus, the fire broke out around 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday and it took until after 8 p.m. for the fire to be put out.
According to MacAngus the fire started in the back end of the house and managed to get into the rafters. It “definitely created some problems for the guys”, he said, but the fire crews managed to put it out.
Fire Chief Larry Gabruch provided some further details about the fire. The initial notification from 911 came in at 5:18 p.m. of a principal residence single-dwelling fire with the original report of a fire in the rafters.
Upon arrival, said Gabruch, it was determined the fire originated in the rear deck on the outside due to “improper disposal of smoking materials.” The fire travelled up the wall of the house into the soffit and up to the attic area.
The Battleford fire department responded with 16 firefighters, two engines and a command vehicle. The public safety officer, RCMP and EMS were all on the scene.
Upon arrival, Gabruch said, they immediately initiated extinguishment and were successful in bringing the fire under control in about 15 minutes, preventing spread to neighbouring houses. Once the attic area was suppressed, firefighters went inside and searched for additional hotspots, and that lasted about an hour after initial extinguishment.
Gabruch said fire crew stayed on the scene until about 8 p.m. to make sure any potential hot spots didn’t spark back up. “We generally really take our time on those types of fires to make sure there is no residual pockets remaining in the structure that could rekindle at a later time,” said Gabruch.
The lone occupant exited the structure safely. There had been an initial report of a trapped occupant but Gabruch said that turned out to be false.
One firefighter suffered minor smoke inhalation that required oxygen.
The exact dollar figure is not known but Gabruch said the structure is deemed a total loss.
