M’CHIGEENG—A hobby garage was destroyed in a fire that took place at a M’Chigeeng couple’s residence this past Saturday evening.
“We made the call to the fire department at about 9:45 pm (on the evening of Saturday, February 10) after Lila Sloss noticed the flames coming out of the building,” said Richard Bayer at their home in M’Chigeeng, this past Sunday.
Mr. Bayer noted the hobby garage is “about 800 square feet in size. There was a lot of stuff in it, like tools, a car, motorcycle and more. I would say about $60,000 worth of items were destroyed in the fire.”
He stressed that luckily no one was hurt in the fire. Thanks to the swift work of firefighters, the fire did not spread to the couples’ home, which is just a few feet from the building that was destroyed.
The M’Chigeeng volunteer fire department responded to the blaze, having called for mutual aid-for tanker (water) support from both Billings Township volunteer fire department and Central Manitoulin volunteer fire department, with both responding and helping out.
“We received the call of the fire at 9:50 pm,” said Eli Fox, M’Chigeeng First Nation fire chief. “We responded and got the fire settled down and contained to the one building, but unfortunately the family lost the building and all its contents.”
Mr. Fox noted, “it was good that we had support from the Billings and Central Manitoulin fire departments; their help was crucial in helping to make sure we got the fire settled down and under control.”
“The M’Chigeeng fire department was in charge of the fire suppression. We were just hauling water for them,” Merv Gilchrist, Billings fire chief told the Recorder on Sunday. “The M’Chigeeng firefighters did a great job of putting out the fire.” He noted that by the time Billings firefighters arrived on the scene, “the roof of the building had caved in.”
Mr. Fox explained, “we’re not sure what caused the fire, but it looks as if it was possibly some type of electrical-type deal. Nothing indicates that it started in the middle of the building.”
“We were on the fire scene until about 2:30 am,” explained Mr. Fox. The firefighters fought and brought the blaze down in temperatures that hovered around -22, which makes things tough on both the fire-fighting equipment and the fire-fighters themselves.
Mr. Bayer said the couple does have insurance.
