A house at 1016 Arena Road in Wilberforce was destroyed after a fire in the early morning of June 6. The house was not being lived in at the time. | Submitted photo

Fires destroy two Wilberforce homes

No injuries were reported but fires demolished two houses in Wilberforce earlier this month.

A fire at 1016 Arena Road was called in to Highlands East Fire Department at approximately 5 a.m. on June 6.

“The fire had obviously been going on for quite awhile before [the call]” said Chris Baughman acting fire chief. “It’s not visible from the street so when we got there it was basically a complete write-off then. It had already collapsed in on itself.”

Baughman said the detached dwelling wasn’t being lived in at the time of the fire and was in the process of being renovated to be rented out. The cause of the fire is undetermined.

“There was no wood stove no heaters going they had replaced all the windows and were painting” said Baughman. “The only thing that was on was the hydro but there was no furniture in the house or anything.”

Stations 2 and 4 responded to the call with other halls being called in to provide more tankers.

The fire department confirmed the absence of residents extinguished and contained the fire and cooled and shut down propane tanks.

A few days later on June 9 the Highlands East fire department responded to a fire that started in the chimney and ceiling of a mobile home at 1047 Saunders Road at approximately 4:45 p.m.

“It was called in by the homeowners who were there and detected the fire” said Baughman. “They were having a nap and had the stove going.”

No injuries occurred but the home was lost causing the residents to be displaced.

On June 22 the fire department responded to another local call after a smoke alarm was activated because of a pot left to boil dry on a stove. No fire occurred.

“They had smoke alarms and early detection caught it so there was no issue” said Baughman.