ROCKWOOD – A house was destroyed following a structure fire here on Tuesday morning.
Firefighters from the Guelph/Eramosa Fire Department and Puslinch Fire and Rescue Services responded to the Main Street (Highway 7) address shortly after the call came in at 5:10am on March 29.
Guelph/Eramosa Fire Chief Petrik said 16 firefighters from Guelph/Eramosa were on scene, along with three from the Puslinch department, which is automatically dispatched to structure fire calls.
“It’s undetermined at this time,” Petrik said of the cause of the fire.
“When we arrived we had smoke coming out of the side of the house and the eaves, indicating it was in the attic as well.
“We attempted to gain access to the house but there was a heavy content load in the house which prevented us from getting access, so we fought the fire from the exterior.”
While the house is located in a wooded area, Petrik said there were no issues accessing the structure from the exterior.
Main Street remained closed on Tuesday morning as firefighters wait for an excavator to take down the structure. Photo by Paige Peacock
He noted firefighters had the fire extinguished in about two hours.
“We’re putting out hot spots right now and we’re waiting for an excavator to come to help start dismantling the house,” he explained just before 10am.
Petrik said the owners were not home at the time, and it was a neighbour that saw the fire and called 911.
He noted the contents of the house are likely a write off and he estimated damages to be approximately $500,000.
“The road is still closed [and] we’re actively trying to get it reopened,” he said.
“Once we have some of the hot spots out we can move some of our trucks around and open it up.
“We’ll get that done as soon as we can but it’s still closed for now … it will be a little while.”
