FIRE AT OPP DIVE TEAM HQ SATURDAY PUTS TEMPORARTY HALT TO PROVINCIAL RECOVERY SERVICE OUT OF GRAVENHURST

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

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GRAVENHURST  — As fire investigators continue a second-day probe in to the cause of Saturday night’s blackening blaze inside the headquarters of the OPP’s Underwater Search and Rescue Unit, its provincial operations here are halted for at least the time being.

Which appears to leave any calls for drowning assistance recovery across Ontario up to local emergency authorities.

“We’ll have to see what happens,” if there are any more incidents this fall like the several calls they’ve had in Muskoka this summer, said one unidentifed official there briefly this morning.

Ontario Fire Marshal investigator Jill Charters,  along with another investigator and engineer, is trying to get to the bottom of the “cause and location” of the fire. They were back probing on a second rainy day Monday. PHOTOS Mark Clairmont MuskokaTODAY.com

The USRU, which is based in a non-descript building at 483 Bethune Drive, covers the entire province of Ontario with a team of 13 specialized police officers who are certified commercial divers.

Their primary role is recovering drowning victims and underwater evidence rather than live search and rescue.

There are a few other specialized teams spread across the province that could step in.

It’s “possible”  the USRU members could work out of their large vans, but they do not have scuba diving equipment in them.

The charred remains of one of the large black USRU team trucks can be just seen backed in to the shadow of a bay door Monday.

Members of the Gravenhurst OPP dive team unit who were at the fire scene this morning removing any vehicles that weren’t damaged. One black pick-up was driven away possibly to the nearby Ontario Fire College.

And at least one of the big black trucks, which travel the province, could be seen inside one of the open five large bay doors that was removed yesterday.

It’s charred front end looking to be severely damaged as it was just tucked just back inside.

A couple of bays down a darkened boat could also be seen inside another door. Another unscathed boat was in a compound behind the warehouse-type building.

The OFM investigation, in to its second day Monday, could yet extend over to a third day Tuesday if necessary.

Jill Carter, one of two Ontario Fire Marshal investigators and an engineer probing the debris, wouldn’t say anything and referred all questions to OFM spokesperson Jim Demetriou.

He would only say, in a cell call from the scene, that the investigation in to the “cause and location” of the fire is ongoing.

The fire damage could only be seen on the front-facing side of the building. A walk around the back and into a neighbour’s yard couldn’t reveal any damage. And the unidentified neighbour said there was “no damage to see.” He said he just heard “explosions” and the firefighter pouring water on the building all night.

The trio of investigators may yet be there a third day depending on what they uncover or don’t today. Though a second straight day of heavy rain could impact that after it rained down on the building that had holes in the roof from the fire.

It’s likely then the two investigators will take their findings back and examine them before making a preliminary and then final report.

USRU members and possibly police were present today as a clear-out of sorts was underway during the OFM investigation.

The local OPP detachment said in a release yesterday that they do not “deem the fire to be suspicious at the time.”

Though late this morning as several OPP USRU members arrived around 11 a.m., at the same time it looked like three unidentified police were also present.

Blackened smoke stained the tops of all five bay doors as they were opened more this morning revealing some of the damage from the fire and maybe water it took to put it out.
The non-descript brown building on the west side of Bethune Drive North, at No. 483, has been the home to the USRU for about a couple decades.

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