A fire in the Woodlawn trailer park in Dartmouth on Monday has forced a couple out of their now badly damaged mobile home.
Once firefighters had the flames and smoke under control, they spent the rest of Monday morning trying to determine a cause. By mid-afternoon the cause was deemed accidental.
Fire investigators say the homeowner used a propane heater to thaw frozen pipes and ended up setting fire to combustible materials.
The situation was enough for neighbour Kendall Rayner to question why there aren't any fire hydrants in the trailer park.
“It's my opinion there should be, one or two anyway,” says Rayner.
In this case, the fire was contained, but he says it wouldn't take much for it to spread to other trailers.
“Mobile homes, once they go, they don't take long for them to burn up,” says Rayner.
Firefighters weren't as concerned about the water supply. They brought in their own tanker truck, plus there are three other fire hydrants in the area.
“Just 500 meters up the street, we had access to a hydrant and we had an additional crew up there in the case we needed additional water supply,” says Halifax Fire division commander Corey Beals.
Halifax Water says there are at least two fire hydrants well within the maximum limits of 150 meters.
The total cost of the fire hasn't been added up yet.
Officials say the situation serves as a reminder to be extremely careful when dealing with frozen pipes.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kelland Sundahl
