Aluminum wiring blamed for Ste Anne house fire

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This article was published 10/01/2022 (1224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When River Kirkpatrick walked to the store for cigarettes and chocolate milk on Jan. 2, he expected to return home to watch a movie. Instead, he encountered smoke and flames.

“I dropped what was in my hands and I went running in to see if I could put it out. The smoke was so thick I couldn’t breathe,” he recounted in a Jan. 3 phone interview.

Kirkpatrick ran outside, dialed 911, and kept warm at a neighbour’s house while the fire trucks arrived.

Ste Anne Fire Chief Bob Saindon said crews spent about six hours extinguishing Kirkpatrick’s rental house, located at 45 Perreault Street.

Kirkpatrick said he had lived there for nearly three years and lost everything in the fire.

“I left with the clothes on my back.”

Kirkpatrick said he has tenant’s insurance and is relieved he wasn’t home when the fire broke out.

Investigators told him the fire was started by aluminum wiring in the basement.

Saindon concurred with that assessment.

“It appears it’s electrical in nature,” he said Tuesday by phone.

Saindon estimated damages at $150,000 and said the home may be salvageable. Kirkpatrick wasn’t so sure.

“I think that we’re looking at a total loss. The ceiling is sitting on the floor. The fire department had to cut access holes in the attic to effectively put that fire out.”

Kirkpatrick urged anyone living in a home with aluminum wiring to call an electrician for a safety assessment.

Homes wired with aluminum instead of with copper are 55 times more likely to have a connection reach “fire hazard conditions,” according to the Canadian Standards Association.

Aluminum wires are most commonly found in homes constructed between 1965 and 1974.