LaSalle firefighters battled an overnight blaze Sunday at a home in the 1000 block of Reaume Road that caused more than $350,000 in damage but likely left the house a complete write off.
LaSalle Fire Chief Ed Thiessen said the 911 call came in around 3:30 a.m. of a house with flames visible on the roof.
Thiessen said a neighbour made the call but it likely had been burning for a while before firefighters arrived.
“It was a fully involved fire on all three levels of the house when we arrived,” the chief said. “We’ve been able to confirm that there was nobody home.
“The people that live here are actually on vacation.”
Twenty-six firefighters battled flames for hours and smoke continued to billow out of several holes in the roof seven hours later.
LaSalle’s fire investigator was on scene but Thiessen said the fire doesn’t appear to be suspicious. As of 10 a.m., he said they were unable to determine where or how the fire began because the structure is not safe to access.
“It’s such an unstable place that we can’t go inside and do an investigation,” Thiessen said. “Because it’s so unstable inside, we can’t fight the fire the way we normally would.
“So we’re trying to fight the basement level fire — in the ceiling of the basement — but we can’t get down there. The floor underneath is still burning but we can’t get to it.”
Firefighters continued to work on the structure seven hours later, trying to get under the floor covering to extinguish the flames.
Reaume Road remained closed to vehicle traffic east of Matchette Road through most of the morning.
There were no injuries but damage was extensive.
“I would say roughly $350,000 to $400,000 (in damage),” Thiessen said. “Basically the home has to be replaced.”
The homeowners, who were out of town at the time of the fire, have been notified.
