The early morning fire at the Maligne Lake Ticket Office, Dec. 6, was caused by a fluorescent security light that malfunctioned, dropping an ember onto a cushioned bench near the front door.
鈥淭he bench has a six-inch foam cushion on the top of it and that鈥檚 what was burning, making a lot of black, thick smoke,鈥� said Deputy Fire Chief Don Smith, who responded to the call at 12:25 a.m.
The heat generated from the small blaze set off the building鈥檚 sprinkler system, successfully extinguishing the flames before the firefighters arrived on the scene.
Smith said that鈥檚 the value of a sprinkler system, it can contain a fire and extinguish it quickly.
鈥淪o basically when we got there, we just confirmed that everything was under control and then we shut off the sprinkler system to stop the water damage.鈥�
Smith said the overall damage to the shop was limited to the front of the store, with one window breaking from the heat of the fire and some minimal water damage from the sprinkler system.
鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 a lot of smoke damage, and because the building is a concrete floored building, most of the water was running out the front door.鈥�
There was no damage to the residential suites above the Patricia Street store, but at the sound of the fire alarm, the tenants self-evacuated and waited until they received the red-light to reenter their homes.
Once everything was secure, the firefighters reset the sprinkler system and reactivated the fire alarm, so the whole building was protected again, said Smith. 鈥淭hat way we didn鈥檛 have to worry about the people going back into their rooms.鈥�
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
