One man went to hospital of his own accord and five puppies were rescued on Tuesday morning when two units of a Neebing Avenue row house complex went up in flames.
Lesa Mihichuk, a resident manager at the facility, said luckily the two units in question were vacant, set to undergo extensive repairs the owners had yet to begin.
“Thank God nobody lives here, but It’s just a nightmare to see something like this happen and I just can’t wait to find out why,” Mihichuk said, glancing up at two firefighters on an aerial platform across the street pouring torrents of water through freshly cut holes in the building’s newly installed roof.
According to Mihichuck the two units in question had no utilities hooked up at the time of the mid-morning blaze.
“It happened in a vacant unit that hasn’t been occupied in quite some time. I really have no idea why. There’s no hydro, there’s no gas turned on in any of these units. I don’t understand why,” she said, noting crime doesn’t seem to be a problem in the area.
“Actually this area is getting very cleaned up and fixed up. It’s a big shocker to me.”
The owner of the dogs spoke briefly with the media off camera, and said it was tough to watch. The woman, who did not give her name, but said her father lives in the building, carried the tiny puppies away in a milk crate.
“It’s pretty traumatic. I just need to calm down right now,” she said, choking back tears.
Thunder Bay Fire Services chief John Hay was on scene overseeing the suppression effort and said both units suffered significant damage in the fire.
Window frames were melted away and the interior, seen from several metres away, appeared charred from top to bottom, as smoke poured through the roof and bursts of flame indicated the fire wasn’t completely under control just yet.
“We’re just working right now at cutting the roof to prevent any further fire extension from this fire into the other effected units.”
Hay said it appeared no one was inside either of the two units that sustained the most damage.
“There is an unsubstantiated reports that there were some renovations going on in the building. We’ll probably confirm that later when our inspectors come in and take a look at this,” Hay said.
“It’s a significant fire, which is a little odd for a morning fire of this magnitude to get going. So we’re going to be here awhile taking this down and cleaning this up.”
Hay said it was far too soon to determine a cause of the fire.
He said the initial call reported heavy black smoke and flames pouring from the six-unit building.
“That’s usually an indication of a well-seeded fire. And those reports were coming in before the trucks got here.”
Hay's crews were aided by a class of firefighter recruits, who were brought along to lend a hand and gain experience.
Thunder Bay Police blocked off Neebing Avenue at Walsh Street and were temporarily rerouting traffic away from the scene.
