Photo by Vince Fedoroff
HEAVILY DAMAGED - The Copper Ridge home damaged by Friday evening's fire may not be repairable, says the city's fire chief.
Neighbour pulls man from his burning home
A 69-year-old Whitehorse man suffered smoke inhalation but escaped without serious injury after his Copper Ridge home caught fire Friday evening.
A 69-year-old Whitehorse man suffered smoke inhalation but escaped without serious injury after his Copper Ridge home caught fire Friday evening.
"I saw smoke coming out the back of the house and instantly knew there was something wrong," a neighbour who witnessed the fire at 65 Grizzly Circle told the Star this morning.
"There were no flames; just lots of smoke."
The fire department received the first call at 5:48 p.m. and dispatched 13 firefighters, its pumper truck, rescue vehicle and ladder truck to the scene.
It took firefighters three hours to extinguish the blaze.
"The occupant had put some food on the stove to cook and it got left there," said Whitehorse Fire Chief Clive Sparks. "The pan caught fire and it started that way."
On Saturday, firefighters had to return to deal with smoldering in the rafters of the converted mobile home.
Sparks said initial damage is probably upwards of $60,000.
"That's our estimate at this point. That's at least half the value of the house and the contents. It's probably close (to a write-off)."
An anonymous neighbour is being credited with pulling the 69-year-old from his burning home.
The homeowner was taken to Whitehorse General Hospital, treated for smoke inhalation and released later that evening. No other information was available as of press time this afternoon.
While charges will not be laid as the fire is being deemed accidental, Sparks had a few words of caution for citizens.
"There's two things: Certainly, if you're cooking anything, make sure it's being looked after, and the other is make sure you've got working smoke alarms in your house," said the fire chief.
"I'm not sure if (this place) had them. There's so much damage we weren't able to tell."
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Comments (10)
Up 1 Down 0
amandamg on May 30, 2009 at 11:21 am
thank you to all the people who reconized the great nice things my dad did around that neighborhood... yes he will be getting a new home started up there sometime... and keep in mind for the people who is insencivetive about the situation.... if my father ever came on here and saw what hurtful things was said... he would be very hurt. just tone it down with your hurtful words..... others have feelings too..
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Line Dion on May 29, 2009 at 5:02 am
another one for br, this man may not be your style, mind you all snobs have their style the ignorant one. they think they own the world and don't care about anyone else but themself, this man lost all memories of past in this fire if this would happen to you it would be great that people care about it but with an attitude like you have i hope nobody does. good luck for the man and good bless people like him
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Northern Girl 99 on May 29, 2009 at 3:06 am
I have family who lives on this same street as the senior who just lost his house-I had no idea that this man had a disability. This so-called "dump" always had a clean yard, a clear driveway and I remember a little girl always playing around outside the yard to whom my daughter had played with a few times when we were visiting my family. How unfortunate that br. judges a person and his home so harshly-if only people were as friendly and helpful as this senior, wouldn't the world be a better place to live?
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Joel on May 28, 2009 at 11:43 am
How much it was insured for has nothing to do with the value of the house nor the quality. I think br had an opinion and he/she stated it...fair deal and no need to bash because of it. I don't think it looked good either personally.
Good thing no one was killed and good that it was insured so the gentleman can rebuild.
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CC on May 28, 2009 at 10:27 am
WOW..I can not believe that we have such insensitive people that can judge another individual. It appears that somethings are lost in all this;
A huge thank you to the individual who put another's life in front of his/her own and went in to save another. And if you have never had or experienced a fire in your home you have no idea what that does to a person's mental state of mind.
I have lived here for all most fourty years now and am glad to know that there are still a few individuals who are kind and think of others rather than sit behind a computer and bitch about others and what they own....who says we have to keep up with the "jones" anyhow????
Again a huge thankyou to the individual who risked his/her life to help another. you deserve some reconginition!!!
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Heather on May 28, 2009 at 7:06 am
br.:
The senior that basically lost his home used to attach a shovel on his scooter and clear the sidewalks on the whole street.
Now, do you do that for your neighbours?
Think twice about your character before you assasinate somebody's lifestyle.
This was a single, older, physically handicapped gentleman who had knick knacks and a home with character. He had made an effor to improve his trailer with a better roof. I think it is very harsh to label it a dump. There was never litter strewn about.
It did not fit the cookie cutter image of Copper Ridge, although I think that is a good thing.
What made the Yukon and interesting place to live was it's characters, or 'Colourful Five-Percent'. You must be very boring.
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amandamg on May 27, 2009 at 5:26 pm
you know br. thats my fathers home he lost everything in that dump as you call it.... insensitive jerk have respect for my father... he spent alot of money converting that place into a disability home... and he also had things in that home he had for 60 years.. that was our house of memories burnt to the ground.. satisfeid its gone.. it was insured for 600,000.00... pretty exspensive for a dump i say..
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br. on May 27, 2009 at 4:03 am
I can see how a place like this could burn very fast... I saw that place when it was started and it was a dump then and still is...They put a very old trailer on the spot and then covered it with a roof... How does the city allow such a thing?? No inspections like we all have to go through when we build a house. It looked like a fire trap from day one... I wonder how long it will just sit there.
I am glad no one was hurt.
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anonymous on May 26, 2009 at 11:14 am
How is that the fire departments fault? The neighbour who pulled him out should have called an ambulance.
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Cheryl Major on May 26, 2009 at 2:26 am
What they failed to mention in this story is that the Fire Department failed to call Paramedics to the scene until well after the man was pulled from the house and lying on the lawn.