NORTH EAST POINT, N.S. – A home in North East Point, Cape Sable Island, was destroyed by fire in a mid-day blaze on Nov. 22, just hours after firefighters left the scene of a fatal residential fire in Clark’s Harbour.
Volunteer firemen from the Island Barrington Passage Volunteer Fire Department, the Woods Harbour Shag Harbour Fire Department and the Barrington Port LaTour Volunteer Fire Department responded to the blaze. The RCMP were also on the scene.
The fire call came in just before noon. Island Barrington Passage Volunteer Fire Department Chief Dwayne Hunt said the fire was rolling out the front windows and the porch of the house, and flames were shooting 20 feet up in the air when they arrived on the scene.
“We had to bring in a backhoe to tear things apart to fully extinguish it,” he said.
Firefighters were on scene for about four hours. Hunt said the cause of the fire is being classified as undetermined as there was far too much damage to determine a definitive cause. The house was insured.
TWO HOUSE FIRES IN 12 HOURS
“To have two structure fires in a 12-hour period is something that has never happened in the 36 years I’ve been in the fire service,” said Hunt. “All the firefighters worked tirelessly in brutal conditions at both fires. It was a physically and mentally exhausting day for all the firefighters.”
The call for the first fire in Clark’s Harbour came in just before midnight. It claimed the life of 60-year-old Leigh Robert Goodwin. Firefighters were called back to that scene about 8 a.m. the next morning. Hunt said a critical incident stress debriefing for the firefighters who attended the scene of the Clark’s Harbour fire was being held on Sunday.