Home near Perth Road Village A Total Loss After Fire

At around noon last Friday (September 25) the home of George and Peggy Whaley on Draper Lake caught fire.

South Frontenac Deputy Fire Chief Brad Smith was the first firefighter on the scene, and he found the home fully engaged in fire.

The occupants of the home had all safely escaped from the house, as had all the house pets. The family made the 911 call themselves.

“Given the nature of the fire, we ran a defensive firefighting operation,” Smith said, in a phone -interview with the News early this week.

“The home is log-structure, and not safe to work around because the exterior walls that were still in place were liable to burst, so we kept our crews back for that reason, until we deemed that area was safe enough.,” he said.

Crews from South Frontenac stations 3 through to 8 attended the fire. They established a water shuttle to Sydenham Lake off Wilmer Road, and were able to apply a constant supply of water to the building, preventing the fire from spreading to a nearby wooded area or neighbouring properties.

Some items from basement of the home were recovered, but aside from that all of the family’s belongings were lost.

George and Peggy are popular members of the community, and a number of initiatives had sprung up to support them. There is a donation box at the Cookery for those who are close by, and a Gofundme page was set up. It is called “Support George & Peggy Whaley after devastating house fire”.

On the Gofundme page, the results of the fire are described:

“In a matter of moments, they lost the place they called home, along with belongings, memories, and many of the everyday necessities we often take for granted. While we are incredibly grateful that they are safe, they are now facing the overwhelming task of rebuilding their lives from the ground up.”

The target for the campaign is $12,000 and as of Tuesday at noon, $10,165 had been raised.

Deputy Chief Smith said that the investigation into the cause of the fire will be led by the Whaley’s insurance company, who will be on scene this week

“As of now, the cause of the fire is listed as undetermined,” he said.