SOUTH UNIACKE: The community is rallying around a family after a devastating fire in South Uniacke last week.
Uniacke & District Fire deputy chief Shawn Darby said fire crews from the community and mutual aid neighbouring communities responded around 5 p.m. Thursday for a structure fire in South Uniacke.
“Upon arrival we had thick black smoke coming from the roof/soffits,” said Darby.
“We initially started with a defensive attack with two hose lines in through separate windows until we had enough apparatus and manpower on scene to begin interior attack.”
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Approximately 35 firefighters were on scene, with mutual aid from HRM Station 10 (Sackville Drive); Station 11 ( Patton Road, Sackville); Rawdon fire; and Brooklyn fire. East Hants RCMP, N.S. Public Works, N.S. Power, and EHS also attended.
The community has started a meal train for the family. That can be found at: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/2n699q .
Many in the community have already filled out the form over the next two weeks on dates they plan to help the family with meals.
A GoFundMe has also been setup for the family, who had no insurance.
Here is the link to that: https://gofund.me/01692c18
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Darby said smoke conditions were heavy for a considerable period of time and it took firefighters a while to fully ventilate the mobile home.
“Once we had ventilated, crews were able to begin overhaul and check for extension as the fire was in the walls,” he said.
The cause was deemed to be accidental, and the mobile home was turned over to the homeowner once the fire was extinguished.
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Darby said the home had heavy smoke and heat damage throughout as a result of the fire.
The Canadian Red Cross tweeted on Feb. 10 that volunteers with the N.S. unit of their organization was helping the family with temporary emergency lodging, meals, clothing purchases, and more.
