While the cause remains undetermined, a major house fire in Penetanguishene over the weekend resulted in $1.5 million in damages.
Penetanguishene deputy fire chief Pierre Genier provided an update Tuesday on the fire at a home on Champlain Road early Sunday morning.
“The cause is undetermined,” Genier said, adding he doesn’t know if the family had insurance.
No one was injured in the blaze and there were no pets in the home, according to Genier.
“We estimate (it caused) $1.5 million in damages,” he said. “The house is a total loss.”
Genier said fire crews from his department were joined by firefighters from Midland and Tiny Township and were on the scene for 12 hours.
Southern Georgian Bay OPP officers closed the road between Beechcroft and Military Roads to allow crews unfettered access shortly after the blaze was reported at 3 a.m.. They reopened the road later that afternoon.
Meanwhile, a GoFundMe account has been set up to help the Woods family, who owned the home.
"My dear friend Nahthanha, her husband, and their three kids lost her childhood home that they had poured the better part of a decade of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears into designing and renovating to a devastating fire," wrote Kaitlyn Slaney, who set up the account.
"The house was completely lost, along with all of Nahthanha’s personal art collection of her one-of-a-kind paintings, her childhood memories and family heirlooms, and all other belongings within."
Slaney goes on to say that it has been a particularly difficult couple of years for the family.
"First, Nahthanha’s husband Chris sustained an injury which required him to be off work while awaiting surgery; a surgery which has been pushed and pushed due to COVID and has resulted in him now being off work for two years."
And last year, the lockdowns and restrictions resulted in Nahthanha Woods having to close her Main Street business, Make a Mess Art Studio, "that she and the community loved so much," Slaney said.
"Not being able to open to the public meant no income, and she could no longer afford to keep the business open," she wrote. "With the loss of the majority of their income, they made the tough decision to list their beloved home for sale and move to help gain some stability. While they waited for it to sell, they rented it on Airbnb in order to pay their mortgage."
As of noon Tuesday, more than $3,500 of the $18,000 fundraising goal had been raised.
Added Slaney: "The proceeds will go directly the the Woods family to pay their bills, buy groceries, and survive as they figure out how to recover from this."
