SHEGUIANDAH—The Towers family of Sheguiandah First Nation were left homeless following a devastating fire that swept through their home last Saturday. Luckily no one in the family was seriously injured, but sadly most of the family’s pets did not escape the fire.
“We were not able to save the home,” said Northeast Town fire chief Darren Bailey, whose department responded to the fire. “The walls were still standing but the house is destroyed.”
Chief Bailey said the fire appeared to be electrical. “There was apparently some flickering going on with the lights before the fire,” he said. “But by the time we arrived, the home was fully involved.”
When the fire crews arrived they found a male suffering from smoke inhalation. “He was on his hands and knees and coughing up black tar,” recalled Chief Bailey. Apparently the individual had attempted to rescue the family pets but was driven out by the smoke and flames.
“We have to find a way to convince people not to go back into a burning building,” he said. “It is so dangerous.”
The Northeast Town fire department has been kept very busy over the past few days. “We have responded to eight calls in nine days,” said Chief Bailey. The cold weather is likely playing a role in the number of fires and the fire chief noted that the number of chimney fires earlier in the year was unusually low. “That has certainly changed,” he said.
Left homeless by the fire were Shannon and Loretta Towers and Ms. Towers’ two sons Cody and Phoenix.
As of press time it was not known if a bank account and trust fund had been set up for the family. As this information becomes available it will be posted to The Expositor website at manitoulin.ca.
