November 19, 2021

FATAL FIRST ST. FIRE HOUSE DOWN, AS POLICE, FIRE OFFICIALS STILL INVESTIGATING CAUSE

GRAVENHURST — In the menacing clutches of an excavator claw, a large brown Teddy bear was dragged from a heap of debris today and dropped into an orange dumpster destined for a landfill.

As operator Gary MacDonald deposited the huge shards of twisted metal, roof trusses, walls, wires and stuffies, Jamie Brennan shook her head.

“Chunk by chunk, their life is torn away,” she said, as she stood on the side of First Street wearing snow boots and a hooded fuzzy track suit as MacDonald continued tearing down the fatal home site. Work began Tuesday and should be cleaned up by Monday, he said.

Tenants were allowed to rummage for a few items before demolition began Tuesday by Aces Waste Management of Bracebridge. Other items like toys were left on the street corner for pick up, but mostly remained covered in Thursday’s light overnight snowfall.

**Three stuffies, including a large cuddly brown Teddy bear were dropped in a dumpster today, a heart-wrenching end to another – but not the last – chapter in the fatal housing story.**

Some neighbours weren’t sorry to see it finally come down.

Brennan had only moved next door in March when on Aug. 31 Erica Curtis-Nickason, 50, died in an overnight fire in a five-unit apartment multi-plex in downtown Gravenhurst.

She said the neighbourhood is “cursed” with two recent fires, a stabbing and a home invasion. But she still likes the street and other neighbours and has no plans to move.

However, she was a little concerned about a tree from her property leaning on the house and feared it could end up on her place. MacDonald assured her that was unlikely.

Police and provincial fire officials have so far been mum as to the cause of the 10-week-old blaze.

Calls to them today by MuskokaTODAY.com — and over the past month — indicate no charges are likely at this point.

At least no criminal charges.

Gravenhurst Fire Chief Jared Cayley did reply today.

“So far, nothing new from the OFMEM on a cause, for the tragic First Street fire.”

So we reached out to the province’s fire marshal whose staff were on scene several hours of the day of the fatal fire.

“The Office of the Fire Marshal is investigating the cause, origin, and circumstance of the incident; however the investigation remains ongoing and I cannot comment further at this time,” emailed Sean Driscoll, public relations officer for the OFM, in response to a request for a comment this afternoon.

We reached out earlier to the OPP and Bracebridge detachment commander Insp. Michael Burton who said Nov. 3 he didn’t expect any charges at that point.

The OPP’s criminal investigations bureau (CIB) out of the Orillia HQ was originally investigating, but may have turned it back over to the Muskoka Crime Unit.

The OPP would have made a big deal about any charges if there were any, Burton said when asked.

**An Aces Waste Management excavator and truck from Bracebridge disposes of debris today. The site should be levelled by Monday after beginning Tuesday.**

Const. Sam Bigley said in reply late this afternoon: “There’s no update on the fire at this time, the last comment made was that we are waiting on the Ontario Fire Marshal’s report and that hasn’t come to us yet.”

She said the case is still under the investigation of the CIB, as far as she knows.

Brennan feels the tenants have been forsaken because of their low-income status.

A further inquiry to Andy Jones, Gravenhurst’s chief building official, elicited much the same.

“There are no charges from the town and I have no update on a cause and probably would not hear that,” he said.

Jones said the town did put an “unsafe order on the property.”

He said the cleanup is being done through the insurance company and the Winmar property restoration company that erected fencing around the property right after the fire.

Jones said, in his email, that the demolition permit was applied for and I think it was Winmar with approval from the owner.”

Asked about any application to the town re: a new construction on the site, he added: “I have not heard anything about a rebuild at this time.”