The area around a chimney by a wood stove is believed to be the cause of a fire that destroyed a home south of Wicklow.
The fire was reported shortly before 11 p.m. (Thursday, January 2, 2025) and when Alnwick/Haldimand Township firefighters arrived at Jubilee Park on Wicklow Beach Road the house was engulfed in flames.
Cramahe Fire Department were also called for assistance with manpower and shuttling water to the scene.
Alnwick/Haldimand Fire Chief Dave Dawson told Today’s Northumberland the fire was strictly a defensive attack.
The occupant of the home told firefighters the blaze may have started in the ceiling around the wood stove/chimney area.
“From what we are able to see from this fire, it seems that would be the case.”
With the light weight construction of the building Dawson said the fire spread very quickly.
Believed to have originated in the chimney, “there is a lot of airspace – it flows very, very quickly and being close to Lake Ontario we get a lot of wind off the lake and it just takes on a energy of its own.”
The building was a mobile home that had additions put on and was heated by propane, but there was also the presence of a woodstove on the interior.
The occupant and two dogs escaped uninjured.