Just before the new year there was a large structural fire in Kingston, Ontario of a timber frame structure (under construction). The fire received national attention. This was highlighted by the rescue of a crane operator during the fire. As far as I was aware there were no deaths, but much hardship to those affected.
The fire occurred just north of Queen’s University, a 5 minute walk. So the day after the fire, I decided to take a closer look. At that time there was concern a crane on site could collapse. Subsequently I did not attempt to cross any barriers put in place around the site. The emergency crews were quite accommodating to me. They allowed photo taking and gave time answering questions I had for them. The crane was latter dismantled and removed (see cbc news article here).
I have decided to post some of the photos I had of the site’s post-fire condition. What I found particularly challenging about this fire, as identified by the photos, was the extreme cold the fire fighters had to endure (ice was easily created on site as temperatures were well below freezing, -15C for example), and how the fire started across the street from a gas station. The last photo was kindly adapted from a video by a person i met on the site.
