CALEB NICKERSON
SHAWVLLE Jan. 3, 2017
Multiple fire crews were called after a kitchen blaze in Shawville got out of control on Wednesday.
Shortly after noon on Jan. 3, firefighters from the Shawville-Clarendon Department responded to an address on Sunnyside Avenue where smoke was emanating from the rear of the house.
Shawville-Clarendon Fire Chief Lee Laframboise said that the fire began in a kitchen cupboard and quickly spread to the exterior wall.
“All inside the kitchen cupboard was burnt, like right under the counter, and it started in the wall, so we had to cut the wall out,” he said. “We didn’t cut the studs, we just cut the wood between them and got the fire out that way.”
Trucks from both the Bristol and Campbell’s Bay-Litchfield detachments were also dispatched to the blaze.
“That’s the protocol, if there’s a building fire, everybody responds,” explained Laframboise. “[The neighbouring departments] bring a truck with four guys on it. We didn’t end up using them, but that’s the protocol.”
Laframboise said that a portable heater was being used in the cupboard to prevent water pipes from freezing. He believed that it wasn’t a mechanical or electrical malfunction that started the blaze but rather too many items in close proximity.
“I’m not blaming it on the heater, I’m blaming it on the stuff that was around the heater,” he said.
