A home that was under construction and nearly completed may have to be torn down after fire ripped through it on Tuesday morning.
The Gibson Crescent home, built by Mattamy Homes, was valued at $400,000, according to Milton Fire Department (MFD) Deputy Chief Dave Pratt.
The home was being built in a new subdivision in the Yates Drive and Louise St. Laurent Avenue area. Nobody was living in the house yet.
“I think it’s going to have to be torn down,” he said.
Pratt said the fire started in the basement where a portable heater (salamander) that runs on propane was being used to help cure the concrete.
“It was put in sometime yesterday and it appears somebody went to move it or change out the propane tank,” he said.
Instead of pointing the heater toward the middle of the room, it was pointing toward the outside wall, Pratt said.
He added that the fire likely started in the two-by-fours or the insulation.
Mattamy construction workers found the blaze Tuesday morning and called 9-1-1 just before 9 a.m., he said.
Pratt said the workers could see a red glow and hear fire crackling in the basement.
When fire crews arrived they found heavy black smoke and flames coming out of the house.
Pratt said the main floor of the house was already spongy, meaning it was unsafe to walk on and he ordered crews to fight the fire from the outside.
“The floor didn’t have much support, it was like walking on a trampoline,” he said, adding nobody was injured. “And what are we going to save?”
The fire quickly spread throughout the entire home and into the attic. Fortunately, Pratt added, there was a working fire hydrant right across the street from the home.
Houses on either side of the home had minor damage to the soffit and siding, he said.
He said firefighters worked on a defensive attack, streaming water in from all the windows and doors they could. Fire never breached the roof.
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