Officials eye cause of huge blaze that forced 120 seniors from nursing home

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SARNIA – Electrical parts in an attic – potentially bathroom ceiling fans – are being looked at as a potential cause of a massive fire that abruptly forced 120 Sarnia seniors from their retirement home in the middle of the night.

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Mike Bird, an investigator with the Ontario Fire Marshal’s office, said one of their engineers was supposed to arrive at Fairwinds Lodge on Tuesday to inspect the electrical components.

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“If you have a fire in an attic, that’s the only thing up there that can cause it,” he said while standing outside the charred remains of the Michigan Avenue facility.

Curtis Lamberts, a captain with the Sarnia fire department, previously said flames were shooting throughout the entire roof structure when firefighters arrived at the home shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday. Police and about firefighters from Sarnia-Lambton and Michigan conducted a room-by-room search, taking all residents from the 113-unit facility to safety. There were no injuries and everyone was safe and accounted for, officials said.

The engineer will pay particular attention to exhaust fans in bathrooms, Bird said.

“There have been issues with them when they get to a certain age, and this building is in that timeframe,” he said, noting the retirement home was constructed in 1999. “We’ll be looking at that as well.”

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Despite pointing to potential electrical issues, Bird said he couldn’t comment on what actually caused the fire as of Tuesday. He did, however, rule out the fire being suspicious so far.

“I haven’t got any information to suggest that it is,” he said. “This is still early, but everything now is still looking at attic fire.”

To help speed up the investigation, heavy equipment was brought in to tear down walls and remove furniture and other damaged items from two units at the northeast corner, where it’s believed the blaze first sparked.

“Then we’ll be going through it with a fine-tooth comb,” Bird said. “We’ve got a fair bit of work to do.”

Sarnia fire officials, including John Milne, a city fire prevention officer, were on site Tuesday helping to uncover the cause. Bird said he hoped his office would be done investigating in person by Wednesday.

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In the meantime, he credited staff and residents at the facility with following their evacuation plan to perfection, a key reason they were able to avoid any injuries and fatalities. Milne also pointed out fire walls between sections of the building prevented the blaze from spreading, though some sections spared from flames still suffered extensive water damage.

The majority of the residents have moved in with family or to a local hotel after being housed in emergency shelter at Lambton College overnight Monday. The Observer asked a spokesperson for Sienna Senior Living Inc., the Markham-based company that runs Fairwinds Lodge, for an update on the short-term housing situation for the residents, but a response was not received by press time Tuesday.

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The spokesperson previously said staff were helping get residents necessities such as clothing and toiletries and were providing them and their families with regular updates about the status of the home. Residents and families were also able to contact their central line at 1-866-959-4848 with any questions, the spokesperson previously said.

A couple of family members were outside the building Tuesday collecting a handful of items from fire officials if they were able to safely get inside the units.

Lamberts previously said he couldn’t offer a damage estimate because it could range based on whether the building is a teardown or a rebuild.

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