Fire guts home

A Thunder Bay family has been left homeless following a Victoria Day fire.

Five pumpers and an aerial truck responded Monday afternoon to the Banning Street blaze, finding smoke billowing from the two-storey home upon arrival.

Thunder Bay Fire Services district chief Jon Swaggert said it took them a few minutes to get a handle on what exactly they were facing.

“As we pulled up there was a massive amount of smoke coming out of the upper level. We did a walk around the building, what we call our size-up. There was smoke showing everywhere. We got the guys in there with a couple of hand lines and knocked it down pretty quickly,” Swaggert said.

“It was tough to find. We’re still working on stuff in there and we’ll eventually get it all taken care of. Right now everything is under control, we’re in our final stages here.”

No one appeared to be home at the time the fire started, although a neighbour said he believed there may have been some pets inside.

Firefighters could not confirm this, although Swaggert did say no one was hurt in the fire.

Shawn Gross, who lives next door to the home, said he made the 911 call after trying to placate his cat with a little fresh air.

“I went to one window that I don’t normally open and opened it. I (smelled) newspaper or something burning. It didn’t sit right. So I went to my other window and saw a lot of smoke billowing from the windows,” Gross said.

“I went to the front door, pounded on it. I know they have cats. I couldn’t get through the front door, so went around back and got the back door open. There was nothing but smoke everywhere.”

It was unnerving, said Gross, seeing a fire take a home so close. And it’s happening far too often, he added.

“It’s almost like Thunder Bay is engrossed in flames,” he said. “You hear about a fire almost every couple of days.”

Swaggert said the damage to the home was extensive, though mostly from smoke and water.

A woman who lives in the home arrived at the scene as firefighters were battling the fire, and was consoled and questioned before taking refuge at a neighbour’s place across the street.

Swaggert said it was too soon to tell how or where the fire started, and that officials would be brought in later Monday to conduct an investigation.