“When we arrived, there was already widespread conflagration throughout the building. We immediately fell into defensive mode so as not to cause any spread,” says the head of the Champlain fire department, Mathieu Chartier.
This specifies that the firefighters only had time to protect the two houses where there was a risk of the fire spreading, one due to its proximity and the other by the force of the winds.
The firefighters went into defensive mode upon their arrival. (Sylvain Mayer/Le Nouvelliste)
“There was a bit of damage to the small garage at the back, but it’s minor. It only melted the porthole,” he says.
For the moment, we cannot say anything about the origin of the fire. “When we arrived, it was a little more on the left side, but it was a generalized fire. Maybe the wind made it go that way, but we can’t say,” continues Mathieu Chartier.
“Since it’s a total loss, we don’t have the expertise to say what the cause is,” adds the head of the Champlain fire department, who indicates that there was no evidence to suggest that the fire could have been lit by a criminal hand.
Around thirty firefighters from Batiscan, Champlain and Saint-Geneviève-de-Batiscan participated in the operation which ended in the middle of the afternoon.
When they arrived, all residents had been evacuated and no one was injured.
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