SFN firefighters respond to fire and head-on collision

Saugeen First Nation firefighters responded to a blaze that completely destroyed a vacant house and then a head-on collision on Highway 21 within a 90-minute period Thursday.

Spencer Ritchie, the community’s fire chief, said seven of the department’s firefighters were dispatched to the structure fire at 13 Kewageshig St. near Cameron Drive at about 5 a.m.

The abandoned house was fully engulfed in flames, but the firefighters managed to knock it down within 45 minutes to an hour, he said.

Firefighters instructed neighbours to exit their homes as a precaution.

No one was injured and the cause of the fire is still under investigation, he said. The scene required extensive clean-up after the fire was extinguished, he added.

Shortly after the blaze was knocked down, firefighters were called to a collision on the east end of the reserve, Ritchie said.

The Grey Bruce OPP says an eastbound pick-up truck and westbound car collided around 6:30 a.m. west of Bruce County Road 14.

The car had crossed the centre line, travelled onto the eastbound gravel shoulder and collided with the pick-up, media relations officer Const. Adam Belanger said in a police statement.

One driver was taken by ambulance to hospital with minor injuries.

Police have charged the driver of the car, a 29-year-old from South Bruce Peninsula, with careless driving.