(Updated) No injuries in Monday’s fire at Exit Realty

Adam Prudhomme
Editor

Clouds of smoke from Monday’s fire at Exit Realty on Industrial Boulevard were so thick, members of Greater Napanee Emergency Services spotted them from their headquarters on Advance Avenue.

That allowed firefighters be on the scene quickly and contain the fire to the back of the building. Everyone inside the building escaped with no injuries. Damages are estimated upwards of $500,000.

“There were only three people working in the building at the time and they self evacuated,” said GNES deputy fire chief Bill Hammond. “They were the first people to notice the fire and call 9-1-1. We had noticed it prior to the call and self deployed. We were pulling in as we were actually getting toned to the fire.”

Windy conditions aided the fire and helped it to spread quickly.

“It burned a large portion of the roof,” said Hammond. “It burned a lot of attic and the heat and smoke were pushed down to the floor to the actual office spaces which caused immense amount of damage of melting and burning. We were able to put the fire out rather quickly however the heat and smoke damaged the rest of the building.”

Not to be deterred, the agents at Exit Realty Acceleration were back to work on Tuesday, operating out of a temporary office just up the road at 7 Snow Rd, Unit 3.

The cause of the fire is still yet to be determined. Hammond said it does however serve as the perfect reminder of how important it is to exit a burning building as calmly and quickly as possible.

“One of the occupants said from the time he smelled smoke, he came outside because he thought it was a car fire, to the time he went back in to call 9-1-1 was 90 seconds,” said Hammond. “And you couldn’t see the back of the building, it was fully charged with black smoke.”