Fire quickly destroys Sauble Beach home

It was “already over” by the time firefighters arrived on the scene of a blaze that completely destroyed a Dorena Crescent home in Sauble Beach Sunday afternoon according to Town of South Bruce Peninsula Fire Chief Normand Beauchamp.

Beauchamp said the home’s “lightweight construction” and the aggressive nature of the fire made it “impossible” to save.

There were no injuries as a result of the fire. The cause of the fire was undetermined by Tuesday morning.

Firefighters instead focused on limiting the fire’s spread to the three surrounding buildings. Beauchamp said the neighbours were able to return to their homes later that day.

Beauchamp said firefighters were on scene 16 minutes after the call came in just before 2 p.m., but by that time it was unsafe to enter the structure.

“It was already over,” he said. “These days houses are not built like 50, 70 years ago.”

Beauchamp said newer homes often have a metal beam supporting the load over the basement as more homeowners seek an open-concept layout. Beauchamp said the construction of these newer homes presents a challenge to firefighters as the buildings quickly become unsafe to enter when on fire.

“People don’t see that, they don’t understand that. It’s easy for people to judge, but we can’t, I can’t send people inside a building when the building is very close to collapse,” Beauchamp said. “I would say between eight or nine minutes to 16 minutes if you can’t cool it down … too late. It’s too late. All the research tells us that. This is why in some provinces they’re pushing for residential sprinklers.”

Four tankers and two water pumpers attended the scene. Beauchamp also asked the Saugeen Shores Fire Department to send firefighters to help battle the blaze.

The home was more than 500-metres away from the closest fire hydrant, so the firefighters shuttled water back-and-forth from the scene.

“I was proud of the effort,” Beauchamp said.

Neighbours reported on social media that fire department vehicles weren’t able to cross the Jewel Bridge Road bridge and had to detour to reach the home, but Beauchamp said he was still investigating that matter Tuesday, and that it wouldn’t have mattered in any case.

“It wouldn’t change anything in terms of the result,” he said.

Firefighters were on scene for nearly five hours, Beauchamp said.

A GoFundMe page set up by a neighbour for the young Sauble Beach family who lost their home had raised nearly $4,000 of its $5,000 goal by Tuesday morning.

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