Fire ravages marina
News
Posted By IAN ELLIOT, THE WHIG-STANDARD
Updated 1 month ago
A fire rips through the maintenance building at the Rideau Marina on the east side of the Catraqui River on Saturday. The fire broke out around 3 p.m. with the entire building collapsing around 4 p.m.
Ian Elliot The Whig-Standard |
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A massive fire in the east end Saturday afternoon caused at least $300,000 in damage to Rideau Marina.
A maintenance shop at the boatyard on the east side of the Cataraqui River at Point St. Mark caught fire around 3:20 p.m.
The first fire truck was on the scene just minutes after the 911 call came in, and was quickly joined by nearly every truck in the city -- 15 trucks and the city's new fireboat responded to the blaze and South Frontenac volunteers were acting as standby at city stations while Kingston crews fought the blaze.
Fire crews initially tried to cut their way into the building but were pulled back when the fire was judged out of control.
The building, built shortly after the Second World War, was full of paint, Fiberglas and solvents and it had a double roof, through which the fire burn as firefighters tried to extinguish the flames at ground level.
Chain saws and cutting tools were left in a neat pile a safe distance away from the structure by retreating firefighters. The roof of the building collapsed in a gout of flame and black smoke about 10 minutes after they pulled back.
"It was a really stubborn and deep-seated fire to try and fight," said Kingston Fire and Rescue assistant deputy chief Steve Hurst.
Adding to the difficulty was the fact that the shop where the fire started was on a pier that jutted out into the river, offering firefighters just one narrow approach to the building.
The department called out its new marine unit for the first time and the boat poured water onto the building while pumpers on land doused it from the east.
The smoke from the burning building was so thick that it was almost impossible to see the ground as a person walked through it.
Firefighters prevented the fire from moving into adjoining areas of the marina, although the maintenance shop and a number of vehicles parked near it were a total loss from the fire.
It was already a hot day and Hurst said that added to the difficulty of fighting it. Besides the acrid brown smoke from the chemicals inside, Hurst said the hot summer day made it dangerous for firefighters in bunker suits.
"It didn't take long for us to cycle through every person we had on scene," he said.
Fire crews were still on scene at 2:30 a.m. to ensure that there were no hot spots that could flare. A backhoe was brought in to help move smoking debris.
One boat was destroyed in the blaze.
Adding to the difficulty was the thunderstorm that rolled through at 5:30 p.m. with high winds and hail. "We didn't need that," said Hurst. Fire investigators were still sifting through the ashes of the structure Sunday trying to determine a cause.
A resident of the neighbourhood said he saw a racoon crawl from underneath the steel roof just after the fire started and speculated that the animal may have chewed through electrical wiring in the building.
After dropping some five metres from the roof, the animal lay stunned on the pier for 20 minutes, a short distance from where crews were trying to extinguish the fire, before shuffling away shortly before the building collapsed. ielliot@thewhig.com
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