Fire breaks out in Shelburne home causing $250,000 of damages roughly

November 2, 2023 · 0 Comments

Written By Paula Brown

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Firefighters from three local departments battled a fire that broke out at a home in Shelburne last Friday.

Crews from Shelburne, Orangeville and Mulmur-Melancthon fire departments responded to a call for a structure fire at a home on Pineview Gardens shortly before 10 a.m. on Oct. 27.

Shelburne & District Fire Chief Ralph Snyder said the fire broke out in a garage that had been converted into a living space and was discovered by the home’s residents. The cause of the fire is unknown.

“There was flames showing through the roof of part of the house on arrival. We did an initial knock down from the exterior, we were able to get up into the attic area and control the fire from spreading to the main portion of the house,” said Snyder.

The estimated value of damage to the home is $250,000.

Dufferin OPP reported there were no injuries, but fire crews remained on the scene.

Speaking with the Free Press, Chief Snyder said the fire had been deemed ‘non-suspicious,’ but his biggest concern was that the fire department was unable to find any working fire alarms within the home.

“It had the potential to be a fatal or very dangerous fire due to the fact that we did not find any working smoke alarms,” said Snyder. “They all got out of the house safely, which is somewhat of a miracle.”

He added that he hopes the fire will serve as a fire safety reminder for residents.

“It’s a small price to put on the value of human life to go out and buy a smoke alarm. I hope everybody takes this as a message to have working smoke alarms and test them regularly to make sure they work – this could have been a lot worse incident,” said Snyder.