A house on the Fourth Line here was destroyed by an electrical fire on June 25.
The fire department received the call at around 4pm on Saturday.
“When our crews arrived there was a lot of flame from the rear of the house around the deck area and the roof was on fire,” said Guelph-Eramosa Fire Chief John Osborne.
“The crews made a fast attack to initially knock the fire down that we could see.”
Firefighters then proceeded to put out “hot spots” within the home.
Two people live in the residence but only one was on site when the fire broke out and they escaped without firefighter assistance. The other resident was shopping.
Firefighters did rescue a number of animals from the blaze.
“They resuscitated a dog and I think four cats and those animals were taken by the animal control officer to the veterinarian and as far as I know they are okay,” Osborne said.
“Then [on June 26] we were able to find the last two remaining animals and they are safe too.”
About 35 firefighters battled the blaze from four different departments: Guelph-Eramosa, Puslinch, Centre Wellington and Erin.
“It was a very hot day. We did go through a lot of crews,” Osborne said. “We were trying to cycle them through, keeping them hydrated, trying to keep them cooled off.”
Fortunately there were also a number of large trees on the property that offered shade when the firefighters were resting. The additional departments were also necessary to run tanker shuttles for additional water supply, the fire chief explained.
The fire departments cleared the scene at about 8pm on June 25.
The house suffered about $400,000 in damages, Osborne said, adding the home is uninhabitable so the residents are staying off site.
The Guelph-Eramosa Fire Department determined the cause of the fire was electrical and accidental in nature, Osborne said.
