Two escape after fire heavily damages Elora home

ELORA - Two occupants are safe after their Wilson Crescent home was heavily damaged by fire on Friday morning.

Neighbours who spoke with the Advertiser at the scene said a man ran into the home through the smoke to rescue one of the occupants, a woman with limited mobility.

A male occupant escaped on his own from the garage he had reportedly been working in, where the fire is believed to have started.

Wellington County OPP confirmed the occupants and the bystander were transported to a local hospital as a precaution because of smoke inhalation.

Centre Wellington Fire Rescue chief Jason Benn said about 25 volunteer firefighters from Elora and Fergus stations arrived after 9am to find “thick black and brown smoke coming from the building.”

“It was a fairly intense fire,” Benn said.

Firefighters went on a “full offensive attack” but were pushed back by the intensity, the chief said.

“The garage was most intense, we had a crew on that,” he said.

“Another crew was suppressing fire and smoke in the eaves in the front of the home, and they backed off because of the intensity, they regrouped, and they went back in on the offensive and things were put out fairly rapidly.”

The fire was under control within a half hour, Benn said.

An investigation into its cause has yet to be completed.

“The whole house is definitely affected, which is very unfortunate, however there were some personal effects that were saved,” Benn said.

Around 11am firefighters could be seen spraying down the inside of the home as passersby stopped to ask questions of onlooking neighbours.

Nancy Deraiche was picking raspberries along the fence of her Wilson Crescent property when she noticed smoke billowing from the home next door.

She said she started yelling at her neighbour of about 20 years to "get the hell out of there." The man lived at the home with his mother, she said.

The fire spread quickly, she said. "Within five minutes, I swear it was fast, and there were multiple explosions. I didn't even have time to think about moving my car."

The plastic on one side of Deraiche's Nissan, sitting in the driveway, was distorted and rippled by the heat. Aside from the damaged vehicle and a singed shrub, her home wasn't affected.

To the south on Colborne Street, Joe McBride and Renate Fruhner hadn’t owned their new red brick for all of a day when McBride noticed the smell of smoke.

“We just went upstairs to check for paint or whatever we were doing, and then when we left to go get supplies it was exploding,” McBride said of their neighbour's home.

“We were panicking, very much panicking,” he added.

The couple had planned to move in to their new home that morning, but a truck to transport their belongings had to be called off.

McBride said he saw a man help the woman out of the burning house as another neighbour called 911.

Kayla Brubacher, who lives directly across the street and saw the fire as she arrived home from work, said it was encouraging to watch neighbours pull together and jump into action.

Nearby, Deraiche and neighbour Kelly Chilton were drying photos in the sun and washing dinnerware saved from the blaze.