SPRING BAY—An early evening fire destroyed the one-and-a-half storey Speck family home in Spring Bay on Monday, August 14.
The Spring Bay Fire Department reported that the fire team responded to a fire at Perivale and Learmont Road at around 7 pm.
“It was fully engaged when we got there,” said Fire Chief John Reid. “It was just a big ball of flame.”
There is no hard estimate on the total amount of the loss, although the home was completely destroyed. “So that will be a couple of hundred thousand at least,” suggested Mr. Reid. But the fire team did manage to salvage the contents of two freezers and a barbecue. “The freezers were a right off, of course, but when we kicked the doors open the stuff inside was still all frozen.” This was a good thing as the family had just purchased a side of beef and the freezers were full.
Both Andrew Speck and his wife Erica, a local veterinarian, were away from home at the time of the fire. Mr. Speck was on the West End of the Island looking at a crop he was going to take off, while his wife was teaching a course.
There was no one home at the time of the fire and luckily the family pet, a dog, was outside at the time of the fire.
The cause of the fire has not been determined and will likely remain a mystery.
“The roof was steel and I think the house (an older farm house style building) had tin ceilings as well,” said Mr. Reid. “With all that steel and tin piled up in there it was pretty hard to get at anything.”
It was a busy day for the firefighters, who had just returned from a call to a truck rollover when the fire call came in.
“I had just got in the door and sat down at the table,” said Mr. Reid. “I was just putting food on the plate.”
All in a day’s work for the volunteer firefighters of Manitoulin though. “You just put the plate aside and head out the door,” admitted Mr. Reid ruefully.
