BIBLE HILL, N.S. – One of Bible Hill’s oldest houses was extensively damaged by fire early Sunday.
Bible Hill Fire Brigade members were paged to a structure fire at a two-storey home next to the former Cavanaugh’s Food Market building on Main Street at 6:20 a.m. on Oct. 29 and found the house burning.
“Nobody was in the house at the time; the resident was out of town,” said Bible Hill Fire Brigade Lt. Dwane Mellish. “The fire started in the basement and went up the walls. There are no fire breaks in old construction so we knew if was in the basement and burning a while we would meet it at the top.”
There were no pets inside the house.
Mellish said people could smell smoke in the air earlier in the morning but thought it might be from wood stoves.
Valley Kemptown firefighters brought in a pumper-tanker and Truro brought in a pumper and aerial ladder. Salmon River was on standby. Brookfield provided a firefighter safety team and North River went to the Bible Hill station. EHS was on standby, but was not needed.
“It was very much a mutual aid response and we all worked very closely,” said Mellish. “We were able to control it with teamwork, but it was around noon when we were at the point where we could say it was out.”
He said the fact that there were two hydrants nearby was very helpful, but a significant amount of damage was done.
Investigators will determine the cause of the fire but there is no reason to believe it was anything but accidental at this time.
