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Bancroft fire department responds quickly, saves house

April 21, 2016

Photo courtesy of Andreas Pandikiu Moose FM.

The usual outcome of a house fire in a rural area is the loss of the building and everything in it. However, that was not the case last week, when the North Hastings Fire Service responded to a call on Upper Turiff Road. According to fire chief Pat Hoover, the department was on scene about ten minutes after the call came in. Through lightning fast responses and a good strategy, firefighters managed to save a large part of the building. The
firefighters and equipment responded to this fire from the Bancroft, Dungannon, and Lakeview fire halls.

The home is a converted farm house, originally built in the 1800s. Apparently the fire started in the wiring in the laundry room. The wiring was said to have been faulty around the time before the fire.

Electrical fires caused by faulty or eroded wiring is an occurrence that is, unfortunately, more common than fire safety officials would like. Residents in rural areas have been urged to find a service in their area similar to Barnett Electrical (barnettelectrical.com/service-areas/yukon-electricians/) to fix any problem they have with their home’s electrics before another fire like this can happen again.

Firefighters were on scene from about 1 to 5 p.m. And although the laundry room and a downstairs bedroom were badly damaged, the main house survived with all four walls and the roof intact. Hoover reported that the roof could actually hold water after the blaze was over.

So to keep it both short and sweet, sometimes the fire department is able to prevent total loss, even when a fire breaks out down a rural road.