Friday night was a challenging night for volunteer firefighters in Mapleton Township.
Crews were called to two separate fires within hours of each other.
The biggest blaze gutted and destroyed the township’s public works building near Drayton.
It was called in by a passerby who saw smoke coming from the building on Side Road 16 around 6 p.m.
“We entered the building and found the place fully involved,” said Platoon Chief Rick Richardson.
Inside the building was millions of dollars’ worth of snow ploughs, road graters and other equipment.
While most of the firefighters focused on keeping the fire under control, others worked to remove the equipment from the building.
“It really helped that 3 or 4 of our firefighters are public works employees that drive ploughs so they were able to assist with that,” said Richardson.
At one point, as many as 50 firefighters from four different departments were working at the scene.
By 1 a.m. the fire appeared under control so crews scaled back their attack. But insulation inside the building kept the fire going and when the wind picked up early Saturday morning the fire re-ignited.
The roof of the building eventually collapsed.
Officials say the fire doesn’t appear to be suspicious.
Damage is estimated to be in the millions.
The second call came in around 8:30 p.m. Crews responded to a home on Bonniewood Drive in Drayton after a fire broke out in the basement. The home had heavy smoke damage but luckily no one was injured.
There have been five fires in the Drayton area since Thursday, but officials say they aren’t related.
The Ontario Fire Marshall has been called in to investigate.
