Orillia firefighters responded to a basement fire at 312 Oxford St. just after 7 p.m. on Wednesday night.
“The fire was confined to a small room in the basement with some smoke that got into the rest of the house,” said Orillia Fire Chief Brent Thomas.
“Our crews were able to extinguish the fire and keep it in the room that it started in, so there was only damage to one room in the basement and minor smoke damage in the rest of the house,”
Thomas says firefighters from both Station 1 and Station 2 responded to the fire as well as volunteer firefighters. No civilians or firefighters were injured, he said.
“The homeowner was assessed by paramedics and left at the scene,” he said.
The cause of the fire is undetermined at this time.
“It’s possible that it was an electrical short, but we aren’t 100 percent sure at this point,” Thomas said.
Thomas says there will be no further investigation by the fire department as there is no reason to believe the fire’s cause was suspicious.
“We’ve left it with the homeowner and the insurance company,” he said.
The fire caused about $50,000 in damages, Thomas estimates. The damage could have been worse, but Thomas credits his crew for doing a great job at battling the blaze.
“Crews did a good job knocking the fire down quickly and we were notified early. So, we were able to contain it with the least amount of damage possible,” he said.
Thomas noted the house will not be livable until cleanups and assessments are done by the insurance company. The home's occupants stayed with neighbours on Wednesday night.
