North Bay Fire Chief Jason Whiteley can’t put an exact number on it but says the fire that destroyed Stradwick’s Carpet One on Tuesday night will be “in the millions of dollars” when all is said and done. The call went out at 9:50 pm on Tuesday night and the scope of the fire was huge as hundreds looked on as all three NBFD stations, two aerial trucks and two pumper trucks and 18 fire fighters were on scene.
It was discovered that the building was unoccupied and later in the night the fire was not deemed suspicious. Whiteley says the cause is undetermined at this juncture.
“We are concentrating in the roof area based on many things reported to us. North Bay Fire will be doing the investigation, we consulted with the (Ontario) Fire Marshall’s Office, but based on what my team has been able to look at we will not have the Fire Marshall coming,” says the North Bay Fire Chief.
Whiteley says the fire presented significant challenges.
“What really compounded the fire was the nature of the business as it contained carpets, laminate flooring and paint. There was an extreme fire load that caused the fire in the building to really take off,” says Whiteley. “The whole building was a big ‘U’ (shape) and the fire was running through the roof and it made its way down. It got into the building’s contents and that put us into a huge firefight at that point.”
They NBFD did not request for assistance from outside fire departments.
“We called in two additional crews, one to the scene, and the other to protect the city,” says the North Bay Fire Chief.
Fire crews also provided exposure protection to the Ultramarine Energy fueling depot located further down Brule Street.
Whiteley says fighting a fire of this magnitude requires help from many community partners.
“Special thanks must got to the North Bay Police Service, EMS, North Bay City Public Works crews, out fleet mechanics are on scene to make sure the trucks need emergency work and North Bay Hydro,” says Whiteley.
The investigation is continuing.