No one hurt and no one killed.
That was the only good news after a fire destroyed a house southwest of Bruno on December 20.
The Bruno Fire Department (BFD) received a call about a fire southwest of Bruno at 12:40 p.m., but couldn't find the location with the instructions given by the passer-by who called in the fire. While calling residents in the area asking them if they could see a fire, members of the BFD got into their fire trucks and drove through the area looking for the fire, explained Jerome Pulvermacher, BFD chief.
While driving around, they received a second call, pinpointing the fire, Pulvermacher said. Another passer-by noticed the fire and called the homeowner, who then called the fire department, explained Cst. Trevor Scott with the Humboldt RCMP.
The fire, which started in a bedroom, had been smoldering quite a while before bursting into flames, said Pulvermacher. Once it started burning, though, it made short work of the house.
Everything in the house which was not burned, was destroyed by smoke and heat. As well, the ceiling in the bedroom where the fire started was burned down to the beams.
The house got so hot inside that everything turned black, Pulvermacher said. Paint and wallpaper is peeling off the walls and ceilings, plastic cupboard doors are melted, and glass on pictures is blackened as well.
The fire department removed windows from the house to access the fire and to allow the smoke to vent.
Once they found the fire, it took Bruno firefighters about half an hour to extinguish it. While there was still some smoke rising from the house, the fire was declared out.
A member of the provincial Fire Commissioner's Office will be investigating the fire to see what caused it.
The Humboldt Fire Department (HFD) also responded to the call, but they only provided backup to Bruno, noted Norbert LeBlanc, HFD chief.
