Tom Sasvari
The Recorder
SILVER WATER—A Silver Water couple lost everything they owned in a house fire that raged Saturday morning.
The fire broke out at the home of Daniel and Bonnie Henry, whose house was located just outside of Silver Water.
Arthur Addison, fire chief of the Robinson township volunteer fire department, told the Recorder, “I got the call of the fire at 9 am on Saturday (March 10). Lee McDonald of Meldrum Bay had been driving past the home and saw smoke, and knowing they (the Henry’s) would be at the restaurant (Stop 540), he stopped in to alert them. It just happened that at the same time about half of our firefighting team was on the job and they responded right away.”
Despite the firefighters arriving quickly to the scene, Mr. Addison said the house was engulfed in flames when they arrived, “and nothing is left of the main structure, although we were able to save the adjacent garage.”
Luckily, “no one was hurt in the fire. They were even able to get their dog out of the house, but they lost everything else they owned,” said Mr. Addison, who added the couple do have insurance on the house.
Mr. Addison explained the house, “was at one time used as a school. The building had originally been constructed in 1910, and Dan had added quite a bit on the house, making renovations and new siding on the house.”
Although the fire was not suspicious, Mr. Addison said it has not been determined what caused the fire. He had called in the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office to inspect the scene, and a representative carried out an inspection on Saturday and again Sunday morning.
“He took a lot of pieces and samples from the fire scene and will be analyzing the materials to see if a cause can be determined,” the fire chief said. “It is one of those things people have a lot of ideas as to what the cause was, but we will have to wait until the results come in from the fire marshal’s office before a cause is determined.”
