Quick_Sylver
April 21st, 2010, 10:13 AM
Two girls are safe after escaping their burning home during their spring break from school last week.
At about 8:40 a.m. on April 7, the Stavely Fire Department responded to a call from neighbours about a burning mobile home at 146 Young Crescent and worked for two or three hours before the structure fire was under complete control.
“There were two kids inside but they got out right away and got across the street,” said Jim Watson, chief of the Stavely Fire Department.
He added the older girl got her younger sister out and they made sure they stayed out instead of going back in to retrieve precious items.
“They did everything right,” Watson said.
A dog and pet cats were also in the home, and it is unknown whether all of them got out safely as only a few were found including the dog, which was taken in by the family who looked after the girls until their mother was contacted at her work place.
“The structure is completely lost,” Watson said. “There’s really nothing that we can salvage or that the family can salvage from the structure itself.” He said the mobile home was likely more than 30 years old and became fully engulfed in the flames.
Once it was extinguished, they had someone wait until about 5 p.m. to ensure no hot spots flared up again. “It was kind of a long day,” he said. “Lots of smoke, and it was a little bit windy so it was a little bit of a challenging day.”
However, there was minimal damage to other properties even though there was significant heat.
“First and foremost, we’re thankful no one was hurt,” he said, adding his heart goes out to the family which has lost everything.
“Unfortunately in terms of an event like this, things can happen very quickly and it’s very scary for the family,” he said.
As for the cause of the fire, Watson said he had a provincial fire inspector there on Thursday to help him examine the area, and it looks as though the cause was likely electrical.
“What we’re focusing on is the electrical in a bedroom,” he said, adding the report will state it was possibly caused by an overload in the bedroom area because of a burn pattern around an outlet.
Because of the structure of the home, he said a mobile home can burn faster than a regular house simply because of its construction.
“They’re narrower (walls), and there’s plywood,” he said, adding houses built from the ground up usually have a two-by-six wood construction whereas a mobile home may only have a two-by-four.
“(There’s) probably not drywall, so there are consumable, flammable products like paneling,” he said, adding there’s just less stuff in the structure, allowing what is there to burn faster. “(The fire) moves quicker. It can go up the wall and move across the top.”
Some have toxic product such as glue and resin that can act as good fuel.
“The products are different than if you’re in a house that’s built from the ground up,” he said.
A fund has been set up at ATB Financial in Stavely for anyone who wants to help the family.
http://www.claresholmlocalpress.ca/headlines.html
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a) It wasnt that late, it was 20 minutes before then,
b) It wasnt an overload, the inspecter said so, the fire started in the wall, then traveled through the wires in the wall to an outlet where it came out. And burn pattern? The wall was completely gone. so Im not sure what they're talking 'bout.
At about 8:40 a.m. on April 7, the Stavely Fire Department responded to a call from neighbours about a burning mobile home at 146 Young Crescent and worked for two or three hours before the structure fire was under complete control.
“There were two kids inside but they got out right away and got across the street,” said Jim Watson, chief of the Stavely Fire Department.
He added the older girl got her younger sister out and they made sure they stayed out instead of going back in to retrieve precious items.
“They did everything right,” Watson said.
A dog and pet cats were also in the home, and it is unknown whether all of them got out safely as only a few were found including the dog, which was taken in by the family who looked after the girls until their mother was contacted at her work place.
“The structure is completely lost,” Watson said. “There’s really nothing that we can salvage or that the family can salvage from the structure itself.” He said the mobile home was likely more than 30 years old and became fully engulfed in the flames.
Once it was extinguished, they had someone wait until about 5 p.m. to ensure no hot spots flared up again. “It was kind of a long day,” he said. “Lots of smoke, and it was a little bit windy so it was a little bit of a challenging day.”
However, there was minimal damage to other properties even though there was significant heat.
“First and foremost, we’re thankful no one was hurt,” he said, adding his heart goes out to the family which has lost everything.
“Unfortunately in terms of an event like this, things can happen very quickly and it’s very scary for the family,” he said.
As for the cause of the fire, Watson said he had a provincial fire inspector there on Thursday to help him examine the area, and it looks as though the cause was likely electrical.
“What we’re focusing on is the electrical in a bedroom,” he said, adding the report will state it was possibly caused by an overload in the bedroom area because of a burn pattern around an outlet.
Because of the structure of the home, he said a mobile home can burn faster than a regular house simply because of its construction.
“They’re narrower (walls), and there’s plywood,” he said, adding houses built from the ground up usually have a two-by-six wood construction whereas a mobile home may only have a two-by-four.
“(There’s) probably not drywall, so there are consumable, flammable products like paneling,” he said, adding there’s just less stuff in the structure, allowing what is there to burn faster. “(The fire) moves quicker. It can go up the wall and move across the top.”
Some have toxic product such as glue and resin that can act as good fuel.
“The products are different than if you’re in a house that’s built from the ground up,” he said.
A fund has been set up at ATB Financial in Stavely for anyone who wants to help the family.
http://www.claresholmlocalpress.ca/headlines.html
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a) It wasnt that late, it was 20 minutes before then,
b) It wasnt an overload, the inspecter said so, the fire started in the wall, then traveled through the wires in the wall to an outlet where it came out. And burn pattern? The wall was completely gone. so Im not sure what they're talking 'bout.