A home in Bedford, N.S., was nearly destroyed by fire Sunday morning. Alarms rang in five fire stations around 10:30 a.m. to the home on 76 Three Admirals Drive.
“We had an exterior fire at the rear of the house from the patio right through to the room and into the attic,” said Divisional Chief Bryson Wilson of the Halifax Fire Department.
It was a model home built in 2014, assessed at over $390,000, and on the market for about $380,000. Now, there’s a risk it may not stand.
“The main roof is burned off the house,” said Wilson. “We have the two cables in that are sort of structurally unsafe right now at this point in time, so with some heavy wind, there could be a problem of collapse.”
Jeff Walsh and his family live next door. They weren’t home when the blaze broke out, but their pets were in the house.
“Because we weren't home, it was quite a nerve-racking drive back to here,” said Walsh. “But I got back in time and I got the animals out.”
But Walsh and neighbours on the other side of the house were not allowed in their home as firefighters knocked down the fire.
“We only have about eight to 10 feet between the house,” said Wilson. “There's quite a bit of heat that was coming from the main fire structure, so it had an effect on the exposures on both sides, so it burned and melted the siding on the two exposures.”
“It's your home, we have everything in there,” said Walsh. “When you get here and there wasn't any water touching our house, and the flames are jumping over, it was quite scary for a moment.”
It wasn’t long before the hoses were turned on the adjacent homes. About two hours after the alarm rang, the fire was out.
Walsh says a woman in her late 30s was in the house when the fire broke out, but wasn’t injured.
But Wilson says when firefighters arrived, the owner wasn’t there.
“I passed her walking down the street when I came home,” said Walsh.
Police are currently trying to contact the owner.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Rick Grant.
