When Barrie Fire Chief Cory Mainprize rolled up on the Little Avenue blaze Monday night, flames were already shooting through the roof.
“When I arrived and early on in the fire, we were unsure of the number of people who’d been able to exit the building,” Mainprize told BarrieToday on Wednesday. “It’s a very fortunate situation that no one was killed.”
City firefighters responded to 100 Little Ave., at the intersection of Bayview Drive, shortly before 10 p.m.
“There were some reports of trapped citizens upon their arrival,” Mainprize said. “They entered the building under extremely dangerous conditions and searched units they were able to search.
“Fortunately, it did turn out that no one was in them.”
All 25 units in the building were affected by the fire, which displaced between 60 and 70 people.
Damage to the structure, which was built in 1989, has been estimated at $2.5 million plus an additional $500,000 for its contents.
The cause of Monday’s fire has been ruled undetermined, although not suspicious, and the structural integrity of the building has prevented further investigation.
“They’re unable to specifically identify the exact cause of the fire,” Mainprize said. “The point of origin is somewhere in a third-floor apartment near the roof area.”
The chief said it was a difficult fire to battle.
“It’s a wood-frame structure with unprotected attic space, which promoted a fairly rapid fire spread throughout the attic space, which made it a very challenging fire to extinguish,” Mainprize said.
“The lightweight roof construction was starting to fail very early, which resulted in us having to remove our crews from the inside of the building,” he said, adding firefighters then took up defensive positions from the exterior.
Despite heavy damage to the building, it has yet to be determined whether it will be demolished.
“The engineers will be in the building in the next day or two to determine whether the building is repairable, whether it’s cost-effective to repair or whether it’s better to demolish and start again,” Mainprize said.
“That determination may take some time,” he added. “Certainly, they’re going to have to do some demolition and debris removal from the roof and the third-floor area to allow the engineers to even safely access the building to determine what the next steps will be.”
Earlier this month, on April 6, firefighters were called to a blaze at 62 Little Ave., located in the same neighbourhood, but Mainprize says they aren’t linked.
“It’s completely coincidental,” he said. “Both fires have been investigated and there’s no link whatsoever; just unfortunate circumstances.”
Monday night’s fire is one of the worst in Barrie in the last decade or so, including the Five Points explosion from 2007 as well as a devastating blaze at an apartment complex on D’Ambrosio Drive in 2014.
Damages in the Five Points fire, which occurred Dec. 6, 2007, were pegged at $4 million. No one was hurt, but the blaze set off a huge explosion and flames engulfed several buildings. More than 40 people who lived in apartments above the businesses were left homeless.
On July 12, 2014, approximately 50 people from 28 units at 101 D’Ambrosio Dr., near Yonge Street and Big Bay Point Road, were displaced from their homes after fire destroyed one of the units in the building. Officials said the blaze started in the master bedroom and damages were estimated at around $500,000.
Mainprize said this week’s fire would rank among those.
“It’s certainly one of the more prominent fires we’ve had,” Mainprize said. “From a civilian standpoint, it affected a large number of people. I don’t think D’Ambrosio displaced this many people, nor do I believe the fire at the Five Points displaced this many people, as well.
“The dollar figure may not be quite as high and the fire may not have been quite as large as those other ones, however it does appear to have affected the greatest amount of people in recent memory,” the chief added.
When Mainprize arrived on scene, Monday, he said he was struck by the level of carnage.
“It’s certainly not a common sight, especially with a residential-type structure,” he said. “The amount of fire exiting that building at that time would be more commonly associated with a commercial-type fire, because you have more large, unoccupied spaces.
“To see an occupied, multi-unit residential structure with that much fire ongoing was very concerning from a public-safety standpoint,” Mainprize added.
There were 35 firefighters on scene at the height of Monday’s fire, said the chief, who added he was proud of how crews battled the fire.
“They certainly engaged the offensive strategy for as long as they could and were able to perform searches of occupied units under very challenging conditions,” he said.
Mainprize said he was also impressed by how firefighters were able to help residents in other ways.
“One of the things that may have gone unnoticed, because a lot of it took place late in the night and early the next morning, is some of the compassion and empathy that staff portrayed for the residents,” said Mainprize, noting firefighters were able to retrieve some personal belongings, medications and pets in an effort “to help some of these people start to rebuild their lives.”
Mainprize said Monday’s fire also reiterates the need for working smoke alarms and having an escape plan.
