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Inside Firefighters contain blaze to fourth floor room at Comfort Inn NEWS
By STAFF
Area couple tell their story as MS Awareness Month kicks off. — PageSF9
SPORTS Fire broke out in a fourth floor room at the Comfort Inn last week which was brought quickly under control by Smiths Falls firefighters. Above, flames can be seen shooting out of the room. Right, firefighters were able to get the blaze under control, but it caused major smoke and water damage to the building. One guest suffered smoke inhalation. Photos by RYLAND COYNE
Smiths Falls baseball player moving up competitive ranks. — Page SF16
RELAY FOR LIFE
Petition fails, 140 Elmsley coming down By HOWAIDA SOROUR hsorour@perfprint.ca
At a special council meeting on Monday, April 28, the fate of 140 Elmsley was sealed: the building will be demolished. A divided council voted in a bylaw approving an out of budget expenditure to demolish 140 Elmsley St. and to amend the town’s procurement bylaw and single source the work to Saumure and Sons. “I don’t understand why now, why the rush, I go back to Mayor Staples and Councillor Brennan who voted against a modest tax increase and ask how can you justify an out of budget expense of $35,000 and why single source the project? Saumure
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is a construction company so they’ll be subcontracting to a demolition company. So why are we paying a middle man?” said a clearly frustrated Coun. Shawn Pankow. Two weeks ago a petition to save the building was started by Zendragon owner, Brian Paquette and had, as of the meeting on Monday, garnered a little more than 100 signatures. Though both staff and council were aware of it, the community interest didn’t sway either side of the debate. “I look at it (140 Elmsley) and look at how much it will cost to tear it down, to landscape it and what we paid for it,” said Coun. Dawn Quinn, who urged residents to keep signing the petition to save the building.
Pankow and Quinn were joined by Coun. Lorraine Allen who made an eloquent plea to sell the building and encourage its restoration. They were outnumbered. “My preference would be that before we make a final decision we exhaust all possibilities for repurposing the building,” said Pankow. “I think we have exhausted all possibilities, and we’ve exhausted the issue,” said Coun. Chris Cummings, succinctly echoing councillors Ken Graham, Jay Brennan and Staples. Although the bylaw was passed nobody either on council or on staff addressed councillor Quinn’s concern over the additional cost of landscaping following demolition.
News – Quick work by Smiths Falls firefighters helped to contain a serious fire to a pair of fourth-floor rooms at the Comfort Inn hotel off Centre Street in Smiths Falls Thursday, April 24. The call went out at around 4:15 p.m. as heavy black smoke began to billow from the balcony overlooking the Rideau Canal. In fact, it was observers from across the waterway who alerted several Canadian Pacific Railway workers, who had checked into rooms on the second floor, of the blaze. “The alarms went off,” said witness Pat Coffey. “You could smell something but people (who could see the flames) were yelling from across the canal. “You knew it was the real deal then,” he said. By about 5 p.m., the fire was under control with firefighters attacking the scene from within as well as from the aerial truck positioned on the south side of the hotel. Smiths Falls Fire Chief Normand Beauchamp, said five firefighters were on scene and had the blaze under control within one hour. The fire had broken out in one room on the fourth floor then spread to a second room. The fire caused smoke and water damage to the building, noted the chief. “It (room) was engulfed, that’s the best way to describe it,” Coffey said. Just four doors down, LoriAnn Charles was in her room when the alarms sounded. Nobody knew she was up there and according to her husband Mark Gravelle who was out at the time, even the firefighters were astounded that she managed to get out on her own, because as fast as they had responded, by the time they arrived the smoke was so thick they couldn’t see anything themselves. “They said she was extremely lucky to have got out so fast, because just five minutes in that smoke and the brain starts to shut down,” said
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Firefighters from Smiths Falls as well as Montague Township and BBD&E were called to the scene. The chief added that several emergency vehicles were also out in full force. Several other resources also attended, including Smiths Falls Police Services, Lanark County Paramedic Service, Enbridge, Hydro One and Red Cross. A restaurant inside the Comfort Inn, Chuckles Jack, had to be closed for dinner. Chef Ram Mogandas said he had reservations for 50 people that night, but had to turn them away. Everyone was able to make it out safely, he said, and no injuries were reported from inside the restaurant. The Smiths Falls Fire Department is conducting an investigation to determine the cause of the fire. With files from Howaida Sorour.
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“They said she was extremely lucky to have got out so fast, because just five minutes in that smoke and the brain starts to shut down.”
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Gravelle. Nonetheless, fast as she was she suffered quite serious smoke inhalation though she didn’t know it at the time. The next day she had to be taken to hospital. “They checked her thoroughly and were quite concerned, they gave her a mandatory seven days rest,” said Gravelle. Her symptoms included earache, swollen eyes, back pain, debilitating headaches and phlegm. “It was scary listening to the doctors debate whether to send her to Ottawa or not, in the end they decided not to, and she’s doing well now,” said Gravelle.
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