Ste-Justine, QC - 2006-02-15

Text and Photos by Stéphane Trottier
Translation from French by James R. Hay

At 1:42 in the morning of February 15, 2006 the 9-1-1 centre received a

call for a fire in a garage on Route 325 between Rang 5 and Rang 6 in Ste-Justine-de-Newton, QC.

The initial call was paged out for the Ste-Justine-de-Newton Fire Department as well as Ste-Marthe for mutual aid with a pump and tanker.

Arriving on the scene the director confirmed the code 10-07 (intervention required), as the building was nothing but a ball of fire. Since the area does not have a water supply a request for tankers and a manpower squad was made to the municipality of St-Telesphore.

Units responding to the call include 220, 320, 520 and 120 from St.-Justine-de-Newton, 309 and 809 from Ste-Marthe as well as 222, 322 and 522 from St-Telesphore. In all about twenty firefighers were working to contain the fire. A mechanical back hoe was requested to the scene to break-open hay bales.

The origin of the fire is currently under investigation the possible cause is intentional as there is no electrical or mechanical source attached to the building. The agricultural building serves to store hay and agricultural machinery. Damage is estimated at about $12,000.