City firefighters responded to an apartment building blaze near downtown Barrie on Tuesday afternoon which was allegedly caused by someone trying to remove large icicles from the building with a blow torch, according to tenants.
The residences, located at 215 Innisfil St., were evacuated as fire crews received the call at 2:21 p.m. on Feb. 11.
“I had just put my daughter down for a nap and heard this loud alarm and got a banging on my door.” Jessie Voth, one of the residents in the building, told BarrieToday, an affiliate of BradfordToday and InnisfilToday, at the scene.
“I opened it up and it was a maintenance guy and he just said get out of the building, so I grabbed my dog and my daughter and got out,” she added.
The small fire at the roof line of the building was quickly extinguished and there were no injuries reported.
Voth noted there was a large icicle hanging from the roof, which was at least nine feet long, she estimated, which tenants had been complaining about, due to its perceived danger.
She said someone was trying to remove it by heating the ice with a blow torch.
Another tenant, Todd Levesque, confirmed the incident.
“The landlord was apparently trying to melt a large icicle on the outside of the drainage area, and the exterior of the building caught fire,” he said. “They were using a blow torch with a propane cylinder.”
Extreme care should be taken when removing ice from a building, say local fire officials.
“I would recommend (people) not use any sort of flame device to reduce icicles,” Deputy Fire Chief Justin Gilbert told BarrieToday. “They could look at knocking them down, however, icicles can be dangerous.”
