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“The cause or origin of the fire appears to be in the area of a fire pit that was on the deck below the gazebo,” Colin Sewell, a platoon leader at the London Fire Brigade, told the Free Press on Sunday. The fire spread to the main floor of the home, he said. Fire crews responded to the house fire at 63 Guildford Cr., just south of Commissioners Road in London’s Westmount district, around 2:30 a.m., Shewell said. “Two occupants were inside,” he said. “They were initially alerted by their smoke alarms and then went outside (and) called 911, with their two dogs.” One person returned to the home to try to rescue the three remaining pets, Shewell said. None of the residents were injured, but two cats and a bird died in the fire, he added.
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Damage from the fire, which officials said was not suspicious, is estimated at more than $250,000. Investigators were still at the scene as of Sunday afternoon. A backyard staple for many homeowners, fire pits were rated the most popular outdoor design element by the American Society of Landscape Architects, NBC News reported in 2018. There were at least 5,300 injuries linked to outdoor fires and heaters in 2017, triple the number a decade earlier, according to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. On Sunday, fire officials took the opportunity to remind people not to re-enter their homes to rescue pets during a fire. “It’s important when people go out, stay out, call 911 and go to their rendezvous point and meet our firefighters so they’re aware of the situation. Our fire crews are on the scene very quickly,” Shewell said. “We’re all pet owners and they’re part of the family, but we want to make sure people are safe and then we can do our job.” Last week, London firefighters rescued a dog from an east end house fire that caused about $600,000 in damage. Firefighters rescued the 14-year-old dog, Parker, from one of the bedrooms and gave him oxygen, Sewell told the Free Press at the time. The sole occupant of the house managed to get out safely. Investigators are investigating the fire, which police are treating as suspicious.
