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Woodstock Chief Defends Fire Response

Friday, 9 March 2012 06:35

It was one week ago when a fire ripped through a garage and apartment buildings on Towerline Road. The building was completely destroyed, much to the dismay of the shop owners that operated businesses out of the bays. Mark Jones operated Joney's Window Films and complained that because the property was on the Norwich side of the town line, nothing could be salvaged. "We have a fire station that is literally a kilometre-and-a-half away from this building that's now burnt to the ground, and we had to wait for Oxford Centre to respond to it. Lines shouldn't matter when there's an emergency situation. They could have saved a lot more of this building." But as Woodstock Fire Chief Scott Tegler explains, because the fire was in Norwich township, Woodstock didn't get the call. "I realize it (the fire) was very close to our fire station here in Woodstock. But, it is in another township and the protocol is set up through the dispatching service...Norwich would be advised of that call and we didn't get an alarm for it." The nearby Parkinson Road Woodstock station was alerted to the blaze by a passer-by, and city fire crews did respond, and were responsible for getting the apartment tenants and their dogs out safely. A tenants of one of the garages also drove to the Woodstock station, where he was treated for smoke inhalation. As for the fire scene, it's gated off, and there's no word yet on a cause or damage estimate from Norwich Fire Chief Bob Parsons.

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