CALEB NICKERSON

MANSFIELD ET PONTEFRACT

April 30, 2019

A chimney fire gutted the upper floor of a home in Mansfield on Friday afternoon.

According to owner Brigitte Sabourin, the sole occupants at the time were friends of hers who were manning sump pumps in the basement.

Just before 2 p.m. on May 3, they called the Mansfield Fire Department to report fire and smoke coming from a second story bedroom wall.

Mansfield Fire Chief Darcy Belair said that the likely culprit of the blaze was the chimney. The local fire department, supported by their counterparts from Fort Coulonge, numbered 30 and had the situation under control in around two and a half hours.

“It’s a loss, it’s an old building,” he said. “[The] second floor is mostly burnt, but it didn’t burn right to the ground.”