A fire that gutted a home in Guelph that has left seven University of Guelph students without a place to live just two weeks before final exams was caused by an open flame near combustible materials, officials say.
Guelph Fire Chief John Osborne said the fire was started by the "Ignition of combustible material by way of a flaming object." He said he would not get more specific than that.
"The message coming out of this should be, whenever anyone is using an open flame, to be extremely careful when they're doing so around combustible material," he said Tuesday morning.
Several 911 calls came into the fire department around 2 p.m. Monday reporting the fire at 20 Hooper Street, off York Road.
Flames were visible outside the home along with thick black smoke. The fire was quickly brought under control and extinguished.
Three students were home at the time, and two were sleeping when the fire broke out, but smoke detectors alerted them and all three exited the home safely.
Friends, university offer help
In the meantime, friends have set up a GoFundMe called Help Hoops to help the seven students.
"Currently, their backpacks and the clothes they were wearing when they went to campus [Monday] morning are all that they have," friend Yassmin Ghotb wrote on the fundraising website.
"I know this [fundraising effort] won't even account for a fragment of the damages, as computers, drum sets, guitars, recording equipment and endless irretrievable photos were lost, but it's something."
Brenda Whiteside, the University of Guelph's associate vice president for student affairs, said the school is offering support to the affected students.
"The first thing we're obviously trying to do is fine space for them to live," Whiteside said.
The students will meet with university administration on Tuesday.
"Then, do they need clothes? We'll probably do a call out to students in terms of collecting clothes if that's what they need," she said. "And then the big one right now, of course, we're going into finals in two weeks, so connecting them with their profs and their program counsellors around, you know, either some extensions they need, do they need to defer some exams."
Link to original article in CBC News: Seven University of Guelph students homeless after house fire