Cobden – The two occupants of a home on Forester’s Falls Road escaped injury Saturday afternoon when they were assisted to safety by a neighbour and passersby who noticed smoke coming from the residence.

Whitewater Region Deputy-Fire Chief Corey MacKenzie said the two occupants were out of the residence when the department arrived on scene for the garage/house fire shortly after 3 p.m.

“When we got on the scene, we were met with thick, black smoke and flames, mostly from the garage and the roof of the house,” he explained. “One of our firefighters was actually at his shop down the street, and he saw the black smoke coming from the house.

“He went over in his pick-up truck and as he got to the house, he noticed the neighbour from next door and a couple passersby had actually stopped and were helping one of the residents, who was mobility impaired, out of the house,” he added. “Thankfully, they were able to get the gentleman from upstairs out of the house, and the fellow who lives in the basement, was helping.”

He said the two occupants were then taken to the neighbour’s house while firefighters battled the blaze.

“Immediate efforts were made to suppress the fire from spreading further,” Deputy Chief MacKenzie noted. “Crews from all five stations responded and contained the fire in a short period of time, and no injuries were reported.

“The blaze destroyed the garage completely and the roof of the house,” he added. “There was an RV parked beside the garage as well, and that took a lot of heat damage.”

He said one vehicle in the garage was totally lost and a second car parked in front of the house, that had been moved away before firefighters arrived, received some heat damage.

Between 40 and 50 firefighters responded from all five stations with five pumpers and three tankers. Water was shuttled from the hydrant at the intersection of Astrolabe Road and Highway 17. The two story-home was located close to GS Farm Equipment. The majority of personnel were on scene until 7 p.m. and the fire investigator and a small crew remained until about 9 p.m.

“The cause is under investigation, and quite honestly, I don’t know what the cause was,” he said. “There’s nothing that jumped out at us.”

He added the fire is not considered suspicious in nature.

Deputy Chief. MacKenzie was unsure if the home would be salvageable as the roof was completely gone, as is the garage. He reminded all residents of the importance of not only having a home escape plan but practicing it as well.

“Fire can spread rapidly and having a plan in place gives everybody a better chance of getting out. And also, working smoke alarms are incredibly important.

“A working smoke alarm did alert the residents to this and helped to get to get them out of there safely,” he added. “If anybody needs any guidance or help on that, they can reach out to us, and we’ll be more than happy to send firefighters out there to evaluate that for them.”