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Firefighters battle a blaze that destroyed a home in Frankville on Wednesday. (SUBMITTED PHOTO)
A fire ripped through an old brick farmhouse in Frankville Wednesday afternoon and completely destroyed the home.
The Elizabethtown-Kitley fire department got the call around 1:13 p.m. for a chimney fire, but when firefighters arrived they realized it was much bigger than they first imagined.
Fire Chief Jim Donovan said the fire started because of a faulty wood stove.
“It started in the (pipe) from the wood stove where it entered into the chimney. The integrity of it had been compromised so the fire was able to escape the chimney and into the wood frame of the house,” Donovan said Thursday.
The fire happened at a home on County Road 29, between Townline Road and Line Road 9 in Frankville.
Police closed County Road 29 between the two roads to traffic for several hours, opening the busy roadway again just before 7 p.m.
The Elizabethtown-Kitley fire department sent 27 of its own firefighters and they had to call in help from several surrounding townships. Trucks, tankers and firefighters from Front of Yonge, Merrickville-Wolford, Athens and Brockville were all involved in putting out the blaze.
Even with all those resources on the scene, they didn’t get home until after 11 p.m., said Donovan.
He did not know the exact amount of damages caused by the fire, but he estimated the total will be at least $150,000.
The structure was built around 1895, Donovan said, but he believed the home was a total writeoff as a result of the fire.
Nobody was hurt in the fire; the homeowner was home at the time but managed to escape and notify the fire department.
It was an old farm house at one point, Donovan said, but it wasn’t currently operating as a farm
Link to original article on recorder.ca: Fire destroys century home