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Wednesday, Dec. 11's house fire in Kenora burned right through the roof of this home on Fourth Avenue South. Fire chief Todd Skene says he has a good idea of how it started, but hasn't ruled out all possibilities yet. ZAHRAA HMOOD / MINER AND NEWS
Kenora’s fire department officials have yet to say what they’ve ruled as the official cause of a house fire on Fourth Avenue South Wednesday night. The fire resulted in complete damage to a home in the Lakeside area.
The fire started Wednesday evening, Dec. 11. Fire and emergency services got a call around 8:50 p.m. about heavy smoke coming from the roof and eaves of their neighbour’s home, at 806 4th Ave. S. Todd Skene, Kenora’s fire chief, said they sent all personnel to the scene, where they saw smoking flames coming from the roof.
“Being a vaulted roof, those are really hard to deal with, because it’s just like a chimney for the smoke and heat to travel up and spread throughout the building,” Skene said. Firefighters on the scene also had to deal with heavy smoke on the second floor.
They managed to control the fire around 11 p.m. and fully extinguish it by 2:30 a.m.
The fire department was back on the scene Thursday, Dec. 12 to clean up, assess the damage and investigate the cause of the blaze. Skene said the roof was burnt right through. There was also extensive water damage and heavy smoke damage throughout the second floor.
“It’s up to insurance, but I’ve got it down as a total loss,” he said.
According to Skene, no one was hurt in the fire: the homeowners were out and came back around the time firefighters got to the scene.
Skene said he has a “good idea” of how the fire started, but that while they investigate and rule out other possibilities, the cause will remain undetermined.
“The big thing for us is everybody’s out, everybody’s safe. Our hearts really go out to them,” he said. “It’s the Christmas season and somebody’s, basically, out of their house and lost a lot of their belongings.”
The homeowners, he said, are staying with family members in town for the time being.
Link to original article on enoradailyminerandnews.com: No official cause yet for Lakeside house fire