Crews battle blaze in large Richmond home, two firefighters treated for injuries

Fire crews battled a blaze in the basement utility room of a large estate home just west of Richmond on Tuesday morning.

At 9:50 a.m., a 9-1-1 caller told dispatch they saw flames from the basement and smoke coming from the whole house.

Ottawa Fire Services (OFS) responded to the home in the 3400 block of Joys Road.

This part of the city does not have hydrants available, so in order for crews to douse the flames OFS set up a water shuttle system. Tanker trucks bring water into the site — in this case from 30 Queenston Dr. down the road — and switch off with other trucks.

By the time crews arrived, the two-storey, large footprint home was “full of black smoke” and high heat, Nick DeFazio, Ottawa fire spokesperson said. Firefighters had to be pulled out of the home at 10:22 a.m.

At its height, the fire was able to burn through the floor above it.

Crews attacked the blaze from the outside of the house before making their way back in. At 11 a.m. firefighters conducted two full searches of the home for occupants, it was confirmed it was empty.

Shortly after the owners arrived and told crews half the house is used as an Airbnb. It is unclear which portion of the house the fire was started in.

Two firefighters were assessed for heat exhaustion on scene. The flames were under control by 11:14 a.m.

Fires like these are challenging for crews due to the large area to cover in searches and more resources needed to battle the blaze.

“There are so many rooms that need to be checked and areas of the home that are hard to identify (with smoke),” DeFazio said.

In this case, crews did call for two additional trucks to continue their attack.

A fire investigator is on scene to determine the cause.

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