A quick-thinking homeowner and fast acting emergency crews were able to limit the damage to a townhouse in east London after a fire broke out in an upstairs bathroom.
It was around 10:17 a.m. Wednesday when the London Fire Department was called to a unit at 121 Bonaventure Dr.
District Fire Chief Kirk Loveland tells AM980 the woman who lives in the home was in the second floor bathroom when she heard a pop. That noise was actually the start of an electrical fire in a ceiling fan. Loveland says the woman was able to get out of the home safely and call 911 for help.
Fire crews were quickly on scene and were able to contain the flames which had moved into the townhouse’s attic and damaged some of the exterior roof trusses.
“There’s a rough estimate of a $40,000 fire loss,” Loveland tells AM980 noting that most of the damage was to the townhouse’s structure. “Most of the contents were okay because the fire extended up into the attic so it stayed away from the lower levels where the homeowners live and where most of their contents were.”
Loveland says the woman and her husband will be temporarily displaced from the unit, but they were insured.
Loveland notes there was another important facet of this case that should be recognized.
“The family did have working smoke detectors on every floor so if the woman hadn’t been right in the area where the malfunction occurred and wasn’t alerted right away her smoke detectors would have alerted her,” he says.
“Or if occurred at a time when they were sleeping, they would have woken up so that’s important to note that they had working smoke detectors.”
Loveland says it’s important to regularly check that your smoke detectors are working properly and to replace the batteries in them on a regular basis.
Source: Electrical Fire Causes $40,000 In Damage To East London Townhouse | (CFPL AM) AM 980
