Renfrew paramedics use drone to help fire crews save landmark Northcote building

By Bruce McIntyre

The former Briscoe's Store on Highway 60 at Northcote escaped a fiery end thanks to the incredible efforts of members of the Douglas Fire Department and local paramedics who responded to the initial 911 dispatch call.

The call was for a car fire, Tuesday, September 21, at the old store between the towns of Douglas and Renfrew, but when crews arrived they found a raging blaze that started in a barn adjacent to the once-bustling store.

Along with the efforts of the firefighters, members of the Renfrew County Paramedic Service played a unique role by launching a drone that identified potential hotspots. 

“It was level at about 50 meters above the structure and it allows us to determine where exactly the hot spots are, especially since the fire was located among several old vehicles and they can be very tricky for firefighters when they are going through the area where it is very smoky and things can become dangerous for the firefighters,” explained Scott McLeod, a member of the Renfrew County Community Paramedic Program.

Paramedics said the wind was extremely challenging and there times when they considered bring the drone down, but in the end they were able to stabilize the unit despite the gusting winds.

One of two occupants of the building was doing routine repair work on a vehicle that Tuesday when a spark from the grinder he was using started the chain reaction, resulting in a huge structure fire that filled the skies with thick, black smoke that could be seen as far away as Renfrew, approximately 13 kilometres away from the scene.

The fire jumped from the initial vehicle to more vehicles, until the large wooden barn became the centre of the fire.

The rapid growth of the fire zone led Douglas Fire Chief Kevin VanWoezik to send an official request for assistance to nearby Horton Township Fire Department through their Mutual Aid Agreement. 

“I was really concerned when I saw the side of the old Briscoe store show signs of damage from the heat of the fire and I can’t say enough about the efforts of the crew to battle and save that old store,” he said. “At its peak we had 25 firefighters from both departments working against the wind and the guys really stepped up to save the building.”

The paramedic's drone successfully identified areas at the rear of the structure fire that could not be seen by the firefighters and with that information, VanWoezik directed members of the fire department to follow the geographical directions as supplied by the paramedics.

“We were fortunate that the occupants were not injured and that enabled the paramedics to launch a drone and that certainly helped us,” he said. “In a raging fire like we had, along with the strong wind escalating the amount of smoke, the drone identified potential dangerous areas and it also showed us where we needed to deploy some of our firefighters.”

Chief VanWoezik said once an excavator showed up with heavy machinery to clear some of the vehicles out of the way, the crews had an easier time containing the fire and keeping it away from the house.

“Tom [Barr] came out around 6:30 and he started moving not only the vehicles, but some of the other metal objects that were smoldering and he cleared them out of the way,” he said. “As well, we had to call in Hydro One crews to disconnect the power as we were worried about our guys coming into contact with active power sources. Power was restored later the next day and I came out to check on the debris for hot spots but since it rained pretty much all Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning so that was a big relief.”

Chief VanWoezik said there were no injuries and said the efforts of the firefighters, with the visual support of the paramedics and the drone to save the old store is nothing short of a miracle given all the obstacles in their way.

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