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Equipment has been taken from the Old Marina Restaurant for further examination to determine the cause of the fire that gutted the building on July 30.
Brent Smith, Puslinch’s chief fire prevention officer, said the investigation has wrapped up at the scene but a detailed examination of equipment must be performed in a lab to reveal how the fire started.
“The area of origin does appear to be the service room in the basement. The point of origin and the ignition sequence has not been verified yet,” he said.
The extra work means a cause likely won’t be found until next week.
“There is always the fear that the equipment is too damaged by the fire to be able to pinpoint an ignition source. Hopefully not in this case,” he said.
While sifting through the charred remains of the McClintock Drive restaurant on the shore of Puslinch Lake, Smith said he discovered a fact Fire Chief Tom Mulvey alluded to on the day of the fire. After Old Marina supervisor Mike Robinson said the fire escalated quickly when employees smelled smoke in the vents, Mulvey told the Times the building may not have been equipped with sprinklers.
Smith said there weren’t sprinklers, but added they are not mandatory in restaurants.
He said when a building is constructed and meets Ontario Building Code (OBC) requirements, the Ontario Fire Code does not supersede what the building code subscribes.
However, the National Fire Protection Association states in its Life Safety Code that restaurants constructed as of 2021 require sprinkler protection.
The Old Marina had a fire in 2005 under a previous owner and reopened in 2007.
“Generally, the OBC is a stricter document for construction,” Smith said.
“In general, every building, including single-family homes, have a far greater chance of surviving a fire with minimal damage if the building is sprinklered, providing the system has been properly maintained.”
That fact won’t be a concern to Old Marina owner Joel Cook unless he plans to rebuild. That decision hasn’t been made yet.
“We are working with our landlord, the McClintock family, which continues to be incredibly supportive, to start the long journey that we hope will see us back to serving the community,” stated a recent post on the Old Marina Restaurant Facebook page.
The fire at the Old Marina Restaurant began between noon and 1 p.m. on the first day of the Civic Holiday weekend when employees noticed “a smell” coming from the vents; smoke followed.
Staff evacuated the building, and everyone got out safely.
Cambridge firefighters were first on the scene and entered the restaurant but were driven back by heavy smoke and heat. Firefighters at that point decided to use a defensive attack on the blaze from outside the building.
The blaze brought firefighters from Cambridge, Puslinch and Maryhill, as well as North Dumfries and Guelph/Eramosa, with those trucks used to tote in water from hydrants on Pinebush Road.
Hot spots were still being extinguished 24 hours after the fire, before heavy equipment was brought in to move the rubble around and allow fire fighters to douse the fire completely.
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