DAN CEARNS The Standard
SCUGOG: A garage fire in Port Perry, on Tuesday, January 18th, led to an estimated $95,000 in damages.
“Of course, that’s an estimate on our behalf. It could be more, it could be less once insurance gets involved,” Scugog Fire Chief Mark Berney stated.
The fire department was notified of a fire, at 647 Queen Street, at 9:26 a.m.
“The factors [which made it tricky to battle] included the garage’s proximity to the house. It was very close. It was a walkway close; so three feet. Containing the fire to the garage and not letting it get to the house was obviously a priority for us, along with the gentleman’s truck in the driveway. The truck did suffer some damage, likely ahead of our arrival,” Chief Berney explained.
The Scugog Fire Department has determined this was an accidental fire, caused by “improper handling of the ignition source.”
“From what we understand, the homeowner had just finished doing some snow blowing and decided to refill his snowblower, right away, with gasoline. We suspect the gasoline spilled, hit the exhaust and then almost instantly ignited,” Chief Berney said.
Following this incident, the Scugog Fire Department has a safety-related message for everybody.
“First and foremost, it doesn’t matter if it’s a snowblower or a lawnmower. When you refuel a fuel-burning appliance or piece of equipment, always do it when the piece of equipment is cool. And use the components of a Jerrycan, [which] allow you to safely refuel a product. Like, you see, some people [who] won’t put the nozzle on the fuel can, and they’ll just pour it from the can itself. The nozzles were put there for a reason,” Scugog’s Fire Chief said.
Chief Berney also encouraged people to remove the snow from fire hydrants to help assist the fire department.