Lightning may have sparked garage fire

FORT FRANCES—While the exact cause remains under investigation, a lightning strike early Monday evening likely caused a fire that quickly consumed a garage located at 1147 Portage Ave. N.
Shortly before 6 p.m., eye-witnesses reported lightning struck the garage, sparking a fire.
While homeowners Betsy and Norm Guenette were at their daughter’s house having supper at the time, they were notified of the fire as soon as their neighbours had spotted it.
Neighbours also called the Fort Frances Fire and Rescue Service, with firefighters arriving just before the Guenettes returned home to find their garage in flames.
“When the fire department arrived there, it was described as ‘fire coming out all openings of the building.’ It was definitely fully involved,” Fort Frances Fire Chief Gerry Armstrong said Tuesday morning.
Firefighters battled the blaze with water hoses, then brought in a backhoe to move around the smouldering debris and expose any hotspots so they also could be extinguished.
Rain also helped put out the flames, Betsy Guenette noted Tuesday.
At one point, the blaze had 25-foot flames, said Norm Guenette.
While the direction of the wind kept the fire from spreading to nearby homes, flames still licked at the couple’s house—blowing out one window and scorching the rear.
“The glass on the windows was so hot, you couldn’t touch it,” said Betsy Guenette.
The siding on one neighbour’s house also blistered from the heat.
The Guenettes called the fire response was impressive, adding Capts. Kirk Armstrong and Joe Bobczynski were “incredible.”
While the fire department was on scene for about three hours, volunteers came back to check on the site until at least midnight to be sure the fire was staying out.
“I don’t have enough good things to say about the fire department and the volunteer firefighters,” said Betsy. “Unbelievable.”
The OPP presence also was valuable, they added, which helped keep back the crowd of onlookers gathering to see the blaze. Police encouraged the public to go back indoors as there was still lightning in the area.
Norm Guenette noted a lot of smoke also resulted from the fire, much of which probably came from a bundle of enough shingles for a whole house.
Apparently, the plumes of black smoke could be seen from the Noden Causeway, he added.
Guenette noted the garage was full of items, including tools, a lawnmower and bicycles, an old pool table from the Kettle Falls Hotel waiting to be refinished, and building materials for a new home the Guenettes are building at Bears Pass.
Betsy Guenette pointed out a few cedar seedlings near the edge of the wreckage, noting she hopes she still can plant them as a reminder of the fire.
“The building is a total loss,” said Chief Armstrong. “There was a fair bit of content in the building. We don’t even have a damage estimate at this point.”
Meanwhile, the Guenettes still are shaking their heads over the random disaster that struck Monday evening.
“My granddaugther [Mya McKenny] asked me, ‘Nanny, why would lightning strike your garage? Poor Papa,’” related Betsy Guenette.
“It had to hit somewhere. I’m just glad I wasn’t inside,” said Norm Guenette, adding he’d been working in the garage “day-in, day-out” and very well could have been in it at the time of the strike had he not been invited to the nearby house of his daughter, Bobbi-Jo McKenny, for supper.
“At least no one was hurt,” added his wife.
“It could have been a lot worse,” reasoned Guenette, noting the lightning did not strike anybody, nor their home or a neighbour’s house directly.
“Now, we’re just have to wait for the [insurance] adjuster,” he added. “And after that, quite frankly, I want it all cleaned up and taken away.”
The Guenettes had to thank their neighbours, specifically Darcy Oliver and Reese Mitchelson, for being vigilant about the fire, adding one of them even moved Norm Guenette’s pickup truck from the driveway so it would not burn, too.
Chief Armstrong stressed the cause of the fire has been verified to have been caused by lightning, but agreed that it is a possibility.
“There’s really no other cause indicator that would suggest it would be anything otherwise,” he said. “Based on eye-witness accounts in the area, [lightning] is a possibility.
“But we’ve not determined that at this point.”
(Fort Frances Times)