'First five minutes' of Vaughan Fire's combat crucial in preventing serious fire from spreading

Vaughan Fire have taken out a fire that significantly damaged 2 homes under construction

Yorkregion.com
August 26, 2020
Aileen Zangouei

Vaughan Fire and two investigators from the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office are investigating the origin and cause of a fire that significantly damaged two homes in Vaughan.

On Aug. 25, at around 12:55 p.m., York Regional Police received a report of a house on fire on Mactier Drive and Rotendo Crescent.

When police arrived on scene, they found two unoccupied homes and under construction on fire, Sgt. Andy Pattenden said.

Vaughan Fire responded to the scene and used a defensive attack to control the fire to just the two homes, and prevent it from spreading.

Seven fire crews were on scene, and took out the fire. No injuries were reported in this incident.

According to Deputy Fire Chief Grant Moffatt, both homes involved in the fire were “significantly damaged” and some surrounding homes were damaged including broken glass and smoke damage.

Homes to the south of where the fire occurred were occupied, however firefighters set up hose lines behind the two homes that were on fire to protect the occupied structures and to prevent the fire from spreading.

Fire Chief Deryn Rizzi called the outcome to this incident a “successful firefight,” especially since it was an “incredibly windy day” and the firefighters preventing it from spreading. Also, Rizzi said there was a lot of exposed wood in the structures nearby.

“The homes on fire are already damaged so we can’t undo that, so what we can do it prevent further damage,” Rizzi said, adding that when firefighters arrived to the scene two homes were on fire, and when crews left, only two homes were involved.

“The first five minutes set the next five hours,” Moffatt said, explaining the importance of the decision making made in the first five minutes of combatting a fire.

In this incident, Captain Jim Collis was the first to arrive to the fire, and made a lot of “intelligent tactical decisions that ultimately made a successful firefight today.”

Firefighters were able to get to the scene quickly since their new Firestation 7-4, located at 835 Nashville Road was close by.

Firestation 7-4 was opened in early January, and was strategically placed in that location to meet the increasing safety needs of the new and growing community.