How fast were Springwater firefighters this morning?
They actually managed to rescue a man and his four dogs from his burning home in Elmvale before smoke could trigger his alarms.
Springwater Fire was called to the old schoolhouse abode on Baseline Road around 7:45 a.m. Wednesday.
A passing motorist noticed smoke coming from the residence and dialled 911.
The first arriving truck was Deputy Fire Chief Jeff French who, has luck would have it, lives close by.
"He did a size up and noticed there was a vehicle in the driveway. Nobody had evacuated the residence so he was banging on the door and made entry. That woke up the sleeping occupant and the four dogs so the owner and the dogs were evacuated to a safe place," said Springwater Fire Chief Ian Gavet.
"Crews made a rapid attack. Found the fire in the roof space."
There were working smoke alarms in the home but the fire department arrived before they went off.
"It's kind of like an old schoolhouse. So basically the smoke alarms are in the livable space. The fire was above that in the roof or the attic. The smoke hadn't yet made its way down to enable the smoke alarms to work but as soon as we pulled the ceiling to access the fire, then the smoke comes down and the alarms went off," explained Gavet.
"They were there. They were operational but they hadn't gone off yet because the smoke had yet to get to them."
There was no major structure damage to the home but smoke and fire damage in the roof, according to the Fire Chief who said his team did a 'fantastic job' of extinguishing the blaze before it spread.
"Today's fire was a good example of why training hard pays off," Gavet said, who also praised the passerby.
"There was the quick response by the Deputy Chief but I can't give enough credit to the person who saw the smoke and called 911."
The cause of the fire is under investigation but is not deemed suspicious.
