(Photo courtesy/Nipawin Fire Department, Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

Nipawin Fire Department

Village of Love house fire deemed total loss

Mar 30, 2023 | 5:00 PM

A structure fire this Wednesday in the Village of Love has left nothing behind and the residence has been deemed a total loss.

According to the Nipawin Fire Department (NFD), who responded just before 11 a.m. Wednesday morning, the cause of the fire is currently unknown.

Nobody was in the house at the time, as according to the village’s Facebook page, Nick Chickowski was the one who spotted the fire.

He also went to check to make sure no one was in the house, later contacting the homeowners.

“A big relief for us when we roll up on scene,” explained NFD fire chief, Paul Cockell. “From there, suppression efforts just continued. Very tough when it’s a stucco building and a tin roof, that just holds all the heat and everything inside it, so makes for a difficult fire to fight from the outside. Again, always nice knowing that we don’t have to go inside to try and do anything that way.”

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(Photo courtesy/Nipawin Fire Department, Facebook)

Crews ended up having to use a backhoe to take apart the home, as they put out the fire piece by piece.

Cockell added this makes for a much safer and more efficient firefight.

“If the structure had still been standing, it would have burnt probably all night long… and then you end up with a much safer scene as well. You don’t have a structure that’s not supported and puts firefighters at risk,” he said.

“Or when the fire is out, you’d have to barricade everything off and not let everyone in and it ends up standing there behind fences for weeks on end, and then you have to bring someone in to tear it down anyways.”

The department worked on suppression efforts most of the afternoon, as Cockell was the last one to leave, around 4 p.m.

There was also a car in the garage which was badly burned and had to be removed by the grapple on the backhoe.

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