A rural Niagara-on-the-Lake house fire drew a platoon-sized force of firefighters early Friday morning. 

“We did a very good job here, all things considered,” said deputy fire chief Darren Trostenko, who was on site with a crew of 33 firefighters Friday morning at a home on Firelane 13, near the intersection with Lakeshore Road.

When The Lake Report arrived on the scene, no flames were visible from the outside, but smoke could be seen coming from broken skylights and windows.

Trostenko said fire and emergency services got the call at 9 a.m. and it took little time for firefighters to arrive at the scene and begin to tackle the blaze. There were no injuries as a result of the fire as the occupants of the home had been safely evacuated from the house when emergency responders arrived. 

“We had water on the fire at 9:17 (a.m),” he said. “That’s a sign of how committed our people are.” 

Rick Vanderende, the owner of the home, was on site with members of his family but declined to comment.

Firefighters remained at the site until after the lunch hour cleaning up the scene.

The cause of the fire has not been determined but Trostenko said the site would be inspected throughout the day, with more information to come next week. 

The fire took place in the back half of Vanderende’s home, where a poolhouse is attached to the main residence.

The volunteer crew was quick enough to respond that it managed to prevent the fire from spreading past the pool house, Trostenko said.

Along with 33 firefighters, the emergency service deployed 11 vehicles to the scene, including two ladder trucks, three pump trucks and four tankers.

“There’s no hydrants out here. So we have to bring water on our tankers and then set up a water shuttle.”

A water shuttle is where multiple trucks go back and forth between the site of a fire and a nearby water source to collect and deliver water. 

The water is then held in a “portable pond” and drawn out with a pump to be sprayed on the flames.

“You can tell that the the training that we do that all the firefighters do is it really pays off,” he said.