Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleEveryone got out safely when a multi-unit apartment building on Argyle Street in Yarmouth, N.S., caught fire on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 31. The displaced residents of 24 Argyle St. lost their homes and all of their belongings, according to PNI Atlantic News, which is the source of the information in this report.
Multiple departments respond
The fire call came in at 11:08 a.m. The Yarmouth Fire Department, the RCMP and EHS responded. Mutual aid pages also went out to other volunteer departments, including those from Wedgeport, Port Maitland, Lake Vaughan, and Valley and District.
At times, thick smoke from the building choked the street. The building itself was never fully engulfed in flames, at least as seen from the outside.
Platoon Chief Noah Muise was in charge of the scene, according to acting Yarmouth fire chief Peter Winship.
A maze inside the building
Winship said conditions inside were worse than they looked from the street. He described an old building that had been heavily divided inside, with apartments and their entrances laid out in a confusing way.
Crews thought they had found a way into one area, only to discover it was not a doorway. Some areas had no doorways at all. Winship described the interior as a maze for firefighters working in the dark, thick smoke.
The first crews went in to attack the fire from the inside and appeared to have knocked it down to a certain extent. But the layout left areas they could not reach, and the fire took hold under some of the beams.
Neighbouring home evacuated, power cut
Shortly before 1 p.m., a neighbouring home was evacuated as a precaution. Winds were strong throughout the day, and there was concern the property next door could be at risk if flames broke through the structure. “We wanted to prevent anything else further from happening there,” Winship said.
Nova Scotia Power also cut power to the building shortly before 1 p.m. The utility did not need to cause a localized outage in the area.
Ladder truck and chainsaws
The Yarmouth Fire Department’s aerial ladder truck was positioned in the parking lot of the nearby Freshmart grocery store, with its reach extending to the damaged property. Firefighters passed chainsaws up and down the ladder so they could cut vent holes in the roof and the side of the building. The openings also gave them a way to get water to the fire inside.
Freshmart closed early for the day because of the fire. Fire apparatus, hoses, fire trucks and RCMP cruisers on the streets blocked access to its parking lot.
Source: PNI Atlantic News
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