COLE BAY: --- Firefighters and police officers worked for hours early Sunday morning to contain a huge fire that engulfed a shanty town located behind Carl and Sons in Cole Bay. Senior firefighter Clive Richardson told SMN News that the Fire Department was summoned around 1am Sunday morning. He said when they reached the scene an unknown amount of wooden structures were on fire.
Richardson said up to Sunday morning the Fire Department could not say exactly how many homes burnt down but everyone that lived in the structures in that shanty town are homeless this morning. "We do not know how many structures burned down and we also don't know how many people were living there. When we got there we saw people around but none of them admitted to living there. We also found 30 small gas bottles at the scene, so from that we gathered there were quite a number of people living in that shanty town." Bystanders told the firemen that they believe the fire was electrical because the fire started shortly after the lightning and thunder on Saturday night.
Richardson further explained that the firemen had difficulty obtaining a steady flow of water because there was only one fire hydrant behind Carl and Sons while the other one is all the way up by ACE Home Center. "The fire was behind Carl and Sons but it could not be accessed by Carl and Sons. Firefighters had to go through a dirt road which is located next to Electec."
"We lost time because of the distance of the fire hydrants from the location of the fire. Due to this there was a shortage of water. When we got there the entire shanty town was on fire. Even though we lost time and did not have sufficient water we could not have saved anything from the shanty town. Nearby homes suffered minor damages such as scorches and cracked glasses," Richardson told SMN News early Sunday morning.
Huge Fire in Cole Bay.
On Sunday October 13th, 2013 at approximately 12:45am, several police patrols, fire department personnel, and paramedics were directed to Wesley Lane in Cole Bay where a large fire had broken out involving several homes. Police and fire department personnel had to evacuate several persons living in the area. The cause of the fire is still unclear and under investigation. The damage to many homes is quite severe. No injuries or loss of life has been reported.
KPSM Police Report
