A fire late Tuesday night on Cook Road destroyed a townhouse unit and damaged two others.
Richmond Fire-Rescue crews responded to reports of smoke coming from the roof of a townhouse in a complex on Cook Road near William Cook elementary.
Firefighters upgraded the response to a “full first alarm,” meaning many trucks and firefighters were required to be on the scene, explained Jim Wishlove, Richmond Fire-Rescue fire chief.
“Crew immediately began attacking the fire aggressively. We started evacuating the rest of the building and protecting all the areas that hadn’t caught on fire,” said Wishlove.
The fire was contained to one townhouse unit but two other units had “significant smoke and water damage.”
No injuries to residents or staff were reported, but, unfortunately, one family pet passed away from the smoke.
The building, Wishlove added, is under security as the investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.
Wishlove told the Richmond News, fortunately, the tenants of the three units were covered under tenant insurance.
“We reached out to (the tenants) through our emergency support services team at the emergency programs branch and all those people have tenant insurance so they can get temporary accommodation until their suites can be repaired,” he said.
“This is positive for them … the tenant’s insurer will immediately begin remediation and also take care of their accommodation, food, clothing, rehabilitation and support network services on a significant scale.”
