Despite a Herculean effort by Cramahe Township fire crews to navigate through white-out conditions and nearly impassable roads in the early hours of Monday morning, a house on Dawson Road in the township was a complete and total loss.
The silver lining to the estimated $1-million loss of the home was that there was no loss of life or injuries, said Cramahe Township Acting Fire Chief Bruce Greatrix.
“The good thing to come out of this was everyone got out of the house, the smoke alarms alerted the occupants of the home. There were four occupant — a nine-year-old, a 12-year-old and a husband and wife. They were alerted by the smoke alarm, exited the house and called 911,” said Greatrix.
According to social media reports, the home was occupied by Jess Smith and her husband Tanner Buckley and children Paige, 9, and Landon, 12.
Greatrix said the fire call came in 5:18 a.m. in the midst of the worst of a winter storm that blanketed Northumberland County on Sunday night into Monday morning.
“It challenged us in our response to that. We did get a couple of fire trucks stuck in the snow, but it was a whiteout. They couldn’t see where they were going. So luckily they all got there, we just got a couple of fire trucks stuck by the amount of snow that was out there. But that in itself didn’t impact our ability to put water on that fire. It just took additional resources to free those trucks up so they could get into the fire fight,” said Greatrix.
Trent Hills and Alnwick-Haldimand Township departments were also dispatched to the Dawson Road fire through mutual aid agreement, with the Brighton Fire Department put on a standby at the Colborne station if there were any additional calls in Cramahe, said Greatrix. The Cramahe department remained on the scene until approximately 3 p.m. on Monday.
Acting Fire Chief Greatrix said the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal was advised due to the high-value estimate attached to the fire, but no Fire Marshal investigators will be sent to the fire scene. Although media reports have suggested a wood-burning fireplace may have been the cause, Greatrix noted the cause of the fire is undetermined.
“We don’t suspect any foul play, so we believe it was an accidental fire. But the exact cause is undetermined at this time,” said Greatrix.
“The damage to the home is so extensive that we will never figure out what the exact cause was,” he added.
Greatrix stressed the importance of having working smoke alarms in homes, as it quite possibly saved the lives of the occupants of the Dawson Road home.
“Absolutely. I’ve been in this business for a long time and the smoke alarms worked exactly as they were designed. And, they didn’t hesitate. When the smoke alarms went off they saw smoke in the upper level of the house, they evacuated right away and called 911 — exactly what they should have done,” said Greatrix.
The community has responded to the needs of the Smith-Buckley family, who lost everything in the fire. Clothing is being collected at the following locations throughout Northumberland:
Brighton:
(K9 Fit) 14352 County Road 2
Colborne:
(Lofty Kitchen) 25 King Street East
Cobourg:
(Kawartha Vision Care) 9 Elgin Street (across from Dairy Queen)
A gofundme account has been set up for the Smith-Buckley family. As of Thursday morning, it has raised over $23,000 of its $30,000 goal in just two days.
