OLIVER PAIPOONGE, Ont. - The cause of the fire that swept through several structures and fields on a Candy Mountain Road property is currently listed as unknown.
Fire crews with the Oliver Paipoonge Fire Department were called to a property on the corner of Candy Mountain Road and Gillespie Road just after 4 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
A barn on the property was already completely destroyed when crews arrived and a perimeter was quickly set up to contain the fire that had spread across the field and jumped north of Candy Mountain Road and east of Gillespie Road.
“It was a very fast moving fire,” said Oliver Paipoonge fire chief, Mike Horan. “Once we got the people there, we surrounded it pretty quick and put it out. But the building was gone before we even got there. Once the barn caught, sparks caught into that tall, dead grass and just ripped right across that field and crossed the road.”
Horan added that it is believed the fire started inside the building that was destroyed, which could make determining the exact cause difficult.
“We don’t have the cause yet,” he said. “It was pretty much destroyed, but we will have a look and see if we can find anything.”
“We may never know,” Horan continued. “The thing was totally destroyed and it wasn’t something that people live in or anything like that. There’s just nothing left of it. We listed it right now as unknown.”
Several other small structures were destroyed as well but did not appear to be in use. There were no reports of injuries and no occupied structures were threatened by the fire.
The Oliver Paipoonge Fire Department responded with 10 trucks and were assisted by two trucks from the Neebing Fire Department, as well as the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, who provided two trucks and a helicopter to monitor the situation from the air.
Horan said this time of year can be particularly dangerous when it comes to grass fires and advises people to exercise caution with conducting any work that may involve flames or sparks.
“In the spring time when the grass is dead and before it greens up it can be very volatile, especially on Sunday, when the humidity is really low and the wind was up,” Horan said.
