Fire displaces family on Oran Ave.

Flames shoot from the back of this semi-detached home on Oran Ave. on Nov. 8. The residents in both units were able to get out safely. (Photo courtesy Chantal Dean)

CORNWALL – A fire at a semi-detached Cornwall home has left one family looking for alternate living arrangements.

The fire at 5-7 Oran Avenue, a small connecting street between Vincent Massey Drive and Laflin Avenue, started around 9:45 a.m.

Jerry Booth, his wife Margaret and their dog were able to get out of their semi-detached single storey home safely.

“She was upstairs, I was down in the basement. Next thing you know ‘Fire!’,” Booth told Cornwall Newswatch.

Another woman in the other home was able to get out safely as well.

Margaret Booth wipes her eyes as she talks to a paramedic at the scene of a semi-detachment home fire on Oran Ave. Her husband, Jerry, (left) checks on their dog in a car. (Cornwall Newswatch)
Margaret Booth wipes her eyes as she talks to a paramedic at the scene of a semi-detachment home fire on Oran Ave. Her husband, Jerry, (left) checks on their dog in a car. (Cornwall Newswatch)

Booth commends the quick actions of firefighters.

“But the fire department was very quick and I’m glad they came as fast as they did because both houses would have been gone.”

The Booth family did have insurance though the insurance status of the other homeowner is not known.

Booth was told by firefighters the fire is believed to have started in the back end of the home somewhere in the wall.

The building has extensive water and smoke damage and holes could be seen in the roof. The condition of the other connecting home is not known.

The official cause and estimated damage has not been released by the Cornwall Fire Department.

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