Structure fire on Pain Court Line. December 16, 2020. (Photo by Allanah Wills).

UPDATE: Losses estimated at $1M after Pain Court house fire

By Natalia Vega

December 16, 2020 - 9:50pm

Damage caused by a massive house fire in Pain Court is estimated at $1 million and the cause is going down as undetermined.

The Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal was also notified of the blaze, which sparked Wednesday afternoon but will not be attending to investigate.

Chatham-Kent police asked drivers to avoid Pain Court Line near Winterline Road while emergency responders were at the scene, but noted early Thursday morning that the road had re-opened. Fire officials said crews from multiple stations were called to 7196 Pain Court Line around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Chatham-Kent Fire Chief Chris Case said the fire appears to have started in the crawl space of the building. However, the fire did spread quickly and firefighters had to act defensively due to the risk of the structure collapsing.

At one point, 55 firefighters were at the scene to protect nearby properties from the blaze, which included the use of heavy equipment. Case said high winds and cold weather created some challenges as firefighters worked to contain the fire.

Luckily, no injuries were reported.

Case said a cause has not been determined yet but the house appears to be "a total loss" at this time.

-With files from Allanah Wills.