Madawaska Valley Fire Department was dispatched to 700 block of Arbor Vitae Road for a structure fire at 8:59 a.m. on December 30th, 2021. When fire fighters arrived, flames were coming out of the wall at the south side of the cottage. Both Stations responded but after 20 minutes the South Hall was stood down as the fire was under control. The North Hall crew from Barry’s Bay stayed on scene for 1.5 hours. MV Fire Chief Corwin Quade said, “Our fire fighters quickly contained the fire, did an excellent job.” Above: at left, damage to exterior of cottage; interior view shown at right. Photos submitted.
For this structure fire, 12 fire fighters and 1 pumper, 2 tankers and 2 rescue trucks responded. The fire was electrical in nature; an electric heater was determined to be the cause of the fire. Smoke alarms were installed in the cottage and were working. Damage is estimated about to be about $5,000. No one was at the cottage at the time of the fire. A neighbour spotted the fire and called 9-1-1; if the neighbour had not called the damage would have been much worse.
Chief Quade complimented the neighbour, saying, “This is the second time in two years that this person spotted a fire and called 9-1-1. The first time was because of a wild fire that they spotted across Carson Lake. This also saved a cottage from being destroyed as the fire was noticed early and called in.”
Recent fire calls
This was the third call for MV Fire Department over this holiday period. On December 25th they were dispatched because of power lines down after a van hit a hydro pole on Dafoe Road. Renfrew County Paramedics and OPP also responded. The van’s occupants suffered minor injuries.
On December 26th MV fire fighters were dispatched to a brush fire on Airport Road. They were called off by responding fire fighters as it was a controlled burn.
Quade,C.,Madawaska Valley Fire Department(2022,Jan.3) MVFD structure fire at Arbor Vita Road [media release]
Photos submitted by MV Fire Dept.
Thanks for your comment, Dan. Yes, the neighbour calling 911 and the response of the local Fire Department are to be commended.
As to your theory, which I presume to be the use of, and most likely the improper connection of Aluminum wiring (including the possible failure to use certified Marretes for Al/Al and/or Al/Cu connections – #63, 64, and 65 if I recall, and the possible failure to use anti-oxidation pastes such as NoAlOx or Ox-Gard in making these connections) I have to suggest your presumptions are incorrect, rendering your theory moot.
The house, to the best of my knowledge, was built around 1990 by a local gentleman who was not actually a builder or tradesperson. That said, although it has some interesting and unique solutions and elements of construction, it is likely as well or better built than any builder could manage… Especially the electrical. All electrical installations, from boxes securely mounted, proper box setback from finished drywall, proper strapping of cables within 12 inches of a box, cable loops provided at box entrances, proper minimum distances from stud/joist face when using holes for cable runs, correct use of cable straps, reasonable lengths of unjacketed wires entering a box, proper attention to box size and total box fill including marrette connectors and pigtails, proper sized marrettes for all wire connections, reasonable length pigtails, proper loops terminating under device screws, and other such details are all code compliant. This gentleman clearly had a copy of “Electrical Code Simplified” at hand when doing his work~!
Absolutely all cable in the house is NMD series copper. I am also not certain a bona fide electrical contractor would be able to do much except point out what I am already well aware of~!
Kudos to the vigilant neighbor and Corwin Quade and Delmar Recoskie for their appropriate response. Chiles is fortunate they had access to his cottage as I have a seasonal neighbor who lives in what I call a “ground hog hole” domicile” and access by 911 responders would not have been possible in December.
However, my theory unlike the one presented by Chiles is that the fire was not caused by EMP as these phenomena requires either an Inductive (L) or Capacitative (C) effect from basic physics principles. There are no inductive elements in the heater but some in the meter (undamaged) and therefore only the Resistance (R) effect could have caused the fire. One would have to do a forensic analysis for determination of the same, but in high probability this cottage is somewhat dated as evidenced by the cinder block foundation. In this era aluminum conductors were used to some degree in both heaters and wiring. Aluminum is a substandard conductor and requires special care and the correct connectors to avoid a dielectric phenomenon which cause residual heating which propagates slowly but eventually this heat propagates to nearby flammable material and over time this causes smoldering and if not dealt with causes burning as evident in the foto.
I would suggest as Eva alludes to: That the Chiles family engage a bona fida electrical contractor to do an electrical evaluation of their premise to avoid a hazardous situation in the future.
On another topic why does the MV suffer prolonged outages (4 days) vis a vis say Bancroft District (1 day). The answer is so elementary if one looks at the Monck Road and Opeongo Line Hydro One dispatching offices. 3-4x more personnel in Bancroft then in the Bay. I hope that our local MPP has noted this as well and takes appropriate action to man the Opeongo Office to a suitable service level.
It looks nothing at all like that, actually! It really looks more like a 240 volt wall mounted heater that was correctly hard wired to either a 20 or a 30 amp dedicated breaker serving only heating fixtures, in a breaker panel, as opposed to a fuse panel. In addition, the weather was not actually extra cold, and in this case, being an unoccupied cottage, it is very likely that the thermostat controlling the heater was set to the lowest setting, likely around 7 degrees celsius, meaning the heater was hardly working at all, and should not actually have ever overheated. I should know, because I own the property!
Interestingly, the scorched wood marks up the outside corner wall indicate a smoldering fire of long duration (likely at least several days, or up to a week) which finally produced enough smoke for the vigilant neighbour (thank goodness) to notice, and call the fire department. The timing also could coincide with a major “power surge” that occurred in the local area just over a week ago, blowing hydro meter covers off bases, destroying electronics and appliances, and causing other damage. It is entirely likely that this ‘surge’ damaged the heater itself, or the thermostat controlling it, causing it to overheat.
Did they check the fuse box?:- it looks like there was a 20-amp heater on a 15-amp circuit so perhaps they overfused it with a 20-amp fuse and with the extra-cold weather the heater would be working non-stop and the cable in the wall would overheat and start a fire:-why are we not surprised?
Please folks don’t overfuse your circuits:- the insurance company won’t pay out on a fire started by overfusing an overloaded circuit and it’s much cheaper and safer just to have an electrician and a heating tech install a proper electrical heater with a proper circuit to supply it.
Overfusing is a major cause of electrical fires and it seems to be a bad habit in this area.