The Morrice Furniture Store building, which has been a family business since 1948 and also served as the home for Jim and Nancy Morrice, was engulfed in flames on Wednesday afternoon on Simcoe Street, Tillsonburg.
According to Tillsonburg Fire Chief Shane Caskanette, firefighters arrived at 2:25 p. m. to find heavy smoke and fire coming from the rear of the building.
“Then the smoke and fire conditions got real bad, real quick,” said Caskanette.
“You’ve got to understand in a furniture store there’s a big fuel load. So we basically went defensive right off the start. The owner had confirmed with us that everybody was out and we just set up exterior operations.”
Caskanette pointed out that it wasn’t just a furniture store; it was also the owner’s residence.
A gofundme. com page has been launched for the Morrice family by Ronsons Audio Visual, initiated by employee Tim Armstrong. Tyler, son of Jim and Nancy, works at Ronsons. You can find the link on their Facebook page.
“We are also accepting any donations for the family here at the store as well (98 Broadway, Tillsonburg),” said Ronsons co-owner Steve Smith.
“I am hoping that we, the community of Tillsonburg, can come together to help this family during this tragic time,” wrote Armstrong on the Gofundme page. “If you have ever stopped in or had the chance to meet the Morrice family you would know they are the most genuine, humble people.”
Firefighters from South-West Oxford and Norfolk provided assistance to Tillsonburg Fire and Rescue Services through mutual aid calls.
Two hours after firefighters arrived, small flames were still visible as water was sprayed from both ground crews and a ladder truck.
“We actually stayed on scene all night just to maintain scene integrity,” said Caskanette on Thursday. “We kept the pump here until probably 3 (a. m.), but we didn’t release the team; we kept them here. Most of the crews cleared around 9.”
The Ontario Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management sent investigators to examine what happened Thursday morning.
“First we’ve got to establish the origin of the fire,” said Mike Ross, an investigator from Ontario’s Fire Marshal’s Office. “That’s always our first primary objective because if you can’t find out where it started, you’ll never figure out what caused it.”
“So we’re just sort of starting this preliminary stage. Obviously you can see that there’s been significant impact on this building causing some structural concerns. We’ve got a collapsed roof, and on one side, part of wall has completely bowed out. There are some structural issues that need addressing first before we can really dive into investigating further,” Ross added.
The duration of fire investigations varies greatly depending on how much material needs reviewing – ranging from a few days up to three weeks in some cases.
“The final conclusion for us is always based on where exactly it started burning, what materials were involved allowing it grow so large, and then what ignited those materials,” explained Ross. “That’s basically our approach.”
The investigation team also uses ‘front end’ information – like photographs shared online – which help assess how things unfolded during those early moments of fire development.
“In this case we’re probably going to have a team of about 5-8 people,” noted Ross while mentioning that team members come from areas like Niagara, Burlington, Barrie, and North Bay. “It’s a total collaboration effort with everyone involved; having more hands means quicker results compared to working with just two people.”
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