Kitchener, Ontario fire dispatch toned out Wellesley, Linwood, and St Clements firefighters for a possible fire at 1715 Greenwood Hill Road February 15 at 15:15. As the stations were being dispatched, you could hear the phones ringing in the background and the dispatchers asking what was on fire. Units reported a thermal column as they turned north onto Greenwood Hill Road from the main road in Wellesley. They reported a two-story house fully involved on arrival, and that all firefighting was going to be defensive. A four-inch line was dropped in the icy laneway out to the road to supply water. There are two ponds used for water in summer right across the street from the laneway. Unfortunately firefighters couldn’t cut through the ice safely to access the pond so they had to drive a mile back down Greenwood Hill Road to catch a hydrant for the tanker relay.
A collapse zone was setup and firefighters pulled four lines to attack the fire. The second floor collapsed ten minutes after arrival, and the bulk of the fire was knocked down in one hour. An excavator was brought in around 21:00 to pull the building apart to get at hot spots in the basement.
Box 690 provided dinner and warm drinks to the 35 firefighters on scene. Damage will exceed $250,000, and the cause is undetermined.
Gary Dinkel, Box 690
