A late-night fire has destroyed a townhome development on Edgehill Drive and caused damage to two homes next door to it.
Barrie fire received a call at 11:54 p.m. Sunday night about a number of buildings on fire in the Edgehill and Ferndale drive area and arrived to smoke and fire billowing into the midnight sky.
Barrie Fire chief Cory Mainprize, at approximately 1:30 a.m., said crews were attempting to get a gas main fire under control.
“The multiple buildings (are) under construction and were well involved when crews arrived and while we’re starting to get a handle on it, we will be here for several hours,” said Mainprize. “It’s way too early to know the cause but the Office of the Fire Marshall has been notified.”
No one was injured in the fires as the developments were not lived in and the homes to each side were safely evacuated by the time crews arrived.
“The buildings under construction were not occupied, both of the exposures on the east and west of the fire were occupied and both of those had self-evacuated on crew’s arrival, so there were no injuries there and we have a firefighter with a broken ankle,” said Mainprize.
Teresa Villeneuve lives at 290 Edgehill Drive and said she and her teenage daughters were sleeping and were awakened by all the noise and were thankful to hear no one was hurt.
“The units that were being built a few doors down from me were all up in flames,” said Villeneuve. “The units weren’t even finished and before tonight they were doing all the insides like the kitchens and bathrooms and such.
"They all came down; I think there were six or eight townhomes and they’re all gone. The only good thing is that no one was living in them.
While no one was in the units that were being built, the fire was so large it spread to a home next door, which was one house from Villeneuve.
“The fire made it over to my neighbour’s house and it almost got ours,” said Villeneuve. “All I could do was get my daughters out and the police told me to move vehicle from the driveway.”
Cause and cost of damage is unknown at this time.
