A chimney fire shut down the intersection at Queens Ave. and Maitland St. Saturday night. JENNIFER O’BRIEN / THE LONDON FREE PRESS / QMI AGENCY
As firefighters raced to a chimney blaze that made its way into the walls and attic of a Queens Ave. house Saturday night, unaware tenants on the main floor watched television.
It wasn’t until the trucks arrived, and firefighters blanketed the property, that Karen Beaucage looked out the window and realized what was going on.
“I said to my husband ‘get dressed and let’s get out of here now. Our house is on fire,'” Beaucage said standing outside moments later.
“Nobody told us. That place has no fire alarms.”
By then neighbours were already standing outside, as was the building’s landlord who had been on the property, burning wood in the fireplace.
As firefighters worked to douse the blaze, the building’s landlord stood quietly watching from across the street.
“It’s crazy,” Peter Rudzic said, of the commotion.
“I was burning wood in the fireplace and I didn’t know what happened. A neighbour came and told me,” he said.
“I’m upset.”
He wasn’t alone. The blaze was the last straw said Beaucage and her husband Jeff McCracken.
“We’re moving out,” said Beaucage. “We’ve got to find a place.”
The blaze — called in as a chimney fire — drew more than a dozen firefighters to the intersection of Queens Ave. and Maitland St. just after 8 p.m. Saturday night.
Firefighters quickly soaked the second story of the home, but the fire had gotten into the walls and was not quickly extinguished.
Nobody was injured, said firefighters.
