A Monday fire that appears to have originated on the front porch of a home at 1070 Main Street West quickly made its way up into the attic and the front portion of the house was engulfed in flames before North Bay Fire and Emergency Services personnel could speed to the scene.
"It went up fast," agreed Fire Chief Jason Whiteley, who was still donning his white helmet and helping to direct traffic as his crews sought to snuff out hidden hot spots hours after the initial call.
All human and animal occupants escaped the fire thanks to a good Samaritan who noticed the porch fire just after 5 p.m. on Monday and resorted to banging on windows to alert them to the danger.
"We went in and tried to do an interior stop," said the fire chief, "and then switched to an exterior attack when it was up into the roof there. We've been trying to keep it from going to the back section, which we've been able to do successfully," as of 8 p.m. "We still have hot spots and we're still working on it."
Many agencies responded to the blaze to both keep the firefighters safe and able to fight the fire in the hot sun on a day that approached a temperature of 30C.
"We're watching our firefighters for heat stroke as they're working. Paramedics are nearby. We're trying to cycle them in and out," said Whiteley. "We've got off-duty firefighters in protecting the city and recycling them out. Transit's on scene providing us with a bus for a cooling spot. Police are on the scene helping with traffic control and possibly the investigation afterwards."
Whiteley estimated Main West between Cormack Street and Timmins Street would remain closed most of, but not all, of the night.
The cause remains under investigation and no damage estimate was provided.
