Skip to content

Fire crews battle stubborn blaze at Mount Slaven (UPDATE: Blaze deemed suspicious)

Nobody was injured in overnight fire; Ontario Fire Marshal, OPP have been called in to investigate 'suspicious' fire

A fire broke out inside an abandoned, old school on Westmount Drive overnight, causing extensive damage.

The blaze in the former Mount Slaven Public School, located on Westmount, between Mary and John streets, likely started at around 12:30 a.m.

There were no injuries reported.

The fire has been “determined to be suspicious,” said Acting Fire Chief Brent Thomas.

As a result, he met a pair of Orillia OPP detectives at the scene this morning to brief them on the blaze and he has asked the Ontario Fire Marshal to investigate.

“The fire marshal will be here later today” and will work, “as he sees fit”, with the Orillia OPP.

Thomas said a neighbour called in the fire at 12:52 a.m.

Because of the condition of the long abandoned school, it was “a tricky fire,” said Thomas, noting “numerous renovations, hidden spaces and drop ceilings” provided challenges.

In addition, the fire “was going for a while before we got here,” so that meant “thick roofing material got heated up” and “got tar bubbling,” which added to the complexities.

“It was a stubborn fire,” he said. “We’re concerned about the integrity of the roof, so we had to do everything from ladders.”

The stubborn fire required all of the local fire department’s resources.

“We had 16 people on the scene through most of the night, which was all of our resources that we had available,” Thomas told OrilliaMatters.

That meant Rama Fire was called in through a mutual aid agreement. Their personnel were “standing by” at the Orillia Fire Department to answer any other calls for about 3.5 hours, Thomas said.

The damage from the fire is “significant,” said Thomas, who said he could not provide an estimate of the damage in dollars.

“A portion of the building has significant damage and an even bigger portion of the building has just smoke damage,” he said.

About two blocks of Westmount Drive, a busy thoroughfare, remained closed to traffic this morning as several fire trucks and police vehicles were still on the scene. Thomas said at 9 a.m., he expected Westmount to be reopened soon.

This is not the first time the Orillia Fire Department has been called to the former school.

A small "deliberately set" blaze in June re-ignited concerns about the long-abandoned building.

Mount Slaven was a public school until the building was deemed too expensive to repair by the Simcoe County District School Board.

The City of Orillia purchased the 50 Westmount Dr. building in 2011. It has been for sale several times and sold more than once - but has never been occupied.

Most recently, it was thought the site would become home to a new retirement home announced by the provincial government. However, OrilliaMatters has learned the former school property will not be the site for that planned facility.


Comments

Verified reader

If you would like to apply to become a verified commenter, please fill out this form.




Dave Dawson

About the Author: Dave Dawson

Dave Dawson is community editor of OrilliaMatters.com
Read more