Windsor fire resources were stretched thin Thursday with four big calls.
“We were down to probably our last vehicle in the city,” said Deputy Fire Chief Jamie Waffle.
Thursday started around 2 a.m. with a fire at a home on County Road 42.
By mid-afternoon, the service activated the mutual aid system, calling on Tecumseh and LaSalle to provide backup if needed.
Waffle says the biggest reason was the response needed for the fire inside Windsor Arena, affectionately called ‘The Barn,’ in downtown Windsor.
“We immediately upgrade resources especially to that size of building, the age of the building, the condition of the building,” said Waffle. “[There are] a lot of empty spaces, a lot of chases in that building. A lot of places fire could go where you might not find it right away.”
Crews stayed on scene until they could be certain the initial fire was out and had not spread beyond a small rubbish fire on the ground.
So when a call came in for a fire on top of the Novelletto Recreation Complex at Mic Mac Park, they called in help from LaSalle Fire Service.
“We thought we might have needed a second aerial device at that fire,” said Waffle.
Waffle told CTV News two firefighters injured themselves with minor sprains or strains while battling a fire at a building on Tuscarora Street.
2 a.m. - 9800 block of County Rd 42
7 a.m. - 400 block of Tuscarora
1:30 p.m. Windsor Arena
4:30 p.m. - Novelletto Rosario Sports & Recreation Complex
“We didn't get to the point where we wouldn't be able to respond,” said Waffle. “But that's thanks to our counterparts in Tecumseh and LaSalle just to ensure that we had coverage.”