LA COREY – When fire Stations 4 Iron River and 6 La Corey arrived on scene at the Lakeland Country Inn location in Lac Corey, crews found a single unit cabin was fully involved in flames after responding to a call at 6:25 p.m. on Sunday.
To effectively battle the blaze, heavy equipment from the MD of Bonnyville was required to clear a large snow load off the driveway entrance leading to the complex, allowing crews full access to the scene.
Station 5 Bonnyville crews also arrived on scene to provide pumper and tanker support to crews engaged in containing and extinguishing the fire.
“Rapid response from the crews and a strong northwest wind contributed to the fire damage being mostly contained to the unit of origin despite it being fully involved when crews arrived,” stated Dan Heney, the regional fire chief of the Bonnyville Regional Fire Authority.
Damage to vinyl siding of an adjacent unit was caused by radiant heat from the fire. No structural damage to adjacent buildings was noted by the regional fire chief.
The next morning at 6:40 a.m., fire crews were called back to the scene to overhaul the remains of the initial fire as heat retained in the debris continued to “steam,” causing concerns by nearby residents.
“The remains were overhauled during the investigation process and the scene has now been turned over to the management of the complex,” he said.
An overhaul is a firefighting function where fire crews manipulate the remains of a fire to explore possible extension of the fire into areas that are not easily visible.
“It may mean opening up walls, pulling down ceilings, or moving collapsed portions of the structure,” explained Heney. “The ultimate goal is to determine that the fire is completely out and no longer causing damage.”
Following the initial investigation, Heney stated, “The fire's point of origin appears to be the bedroom, but the amount of damage to the structure and contents does not allow a specific cause to be identified.”
The unit destroyed by the fire is family owned and operated by Emmie Sidayon and her partner who purchased the Lakeland Country Inn building in August.
Sidayon confirms that a tenant and his pet were not in the building at the time of the fire.
According to Sidayon, the tenant had informed her at around 2:30 p.m. on Sunday that the unit had been broken into earlier that day. The owner directed the tenant to file a police report with RCMP.
Several hours later, she received a call from another tenant informing her that one of the individual units had caught fire and that emergency crews had been called.
RCMP S/Sgt. Sarah Parke confirmed on Thursday, that the unit that was broken into was in fact the same building where the fire broke out.
Investigations into both the break and enter, as well as the fire are ongoing to determine if the two incidents are related, Parke told Lakeland Today.
