No one was injured when a fire broke out on Saturday afternoon at the Tim Hortons in the south end of Arthur.
But the blaze caused about $1 million in damage.
On July 21 at about 3:45pm, 30 firefighters from the Arthur and Mount Forest stations responded to the call after smoke was discovered by employees in the electrical room of the restaurant.
“When we arrived, there was heavy smoke in the building; we could see fire through the windows so obviously we went on an offensive attack to get in there to extinguish the fire,” said Wellington North Fire Service Fire Chief Dave Guilbault.
Most of the damage was located in the electrical room as well as in the ceiling and roof above the front entrance and dining area.
“There were 10 employees and 18 patrons, plus the drive-thru was full. The staff did an excellent job, followed all procedures, got everybody out,” Guilbault said.
“Kudos definitely to all the staff that worked there to make sure that everybody was safe and got out safely.”
The chief noted things could have been much worse, as some of the lightweight roof trusses in the ceiling had burned through, and some had separated from the walls.
“Another eight to 10 minutes … I believe, we would have had a roof collapse, which is a threat to firefighters’ safety,” he said.
Firefighters recognized the truss material, which altered how they attacked the fire.
“We are really concerned about the roof trusses that are made out of lightweight material because they go quick, and this went quick,” said Guilbault.
In Listowel, two firefighters died battling a fire in 2011 when the lightweight truss roof of a dollar store collapsed.
(Perth-Wellington MPP Randy Pettapiece has been advocating for the Rea and Walter Act, named in honour of the two firefighters. The private member’s bill requires emblems to be installed on commercial and industrial buildings, as well as multi-family dwellings of three or more units.)
“The same situation could have happened here,” said Guilbault.
Wellington North Fire Service and the Ontario Fire Marshall are investigating.
On Sunday, Centre Wellington Fire Rescue assisted the investigation with its drone and aerial ladder.
The building was turned over to the owner on Sunday afternoon. It is not known when the restaurant will reopen.
