RR home saved from fire

Ken Johnston

While everyone else was sleeping through the power outage at about 4:15 a.m. Monday, John and Sara Jonassen of 114 Second St., Rainy River had an electrical fire; yes an electrical fire.
John woke up when the power went out to turn on his generator to run household appliances and keep his alarm clock in action so he would not miss work in the morning. Little did he know that about 45 minutes later the family would be fighting to save their home.
In a second floor storage room/attic, a treadmill had started on fire. John thinks that when the power flicked on and off before finally going out the surge caused the motor on the treadmill to ignite.
“A little while later our smoke detectors went off and I smelled something burning,” he said later Monday morning. They called the fire department and John went upstairs to see what was going on.
He felt the door to the storage room and it was hot. He knew he should not open the door, but human instinct kicked in. “I had the fire extinguisher in hand and thought I could do something.”
He did manage to reduce the fire but it had gotten into the floorboards under the treadmill and when the RR Fire Dept. arrived they removed what was left of the treadmill from the house and ripped up the floorboards removing several of them as well as insulation from the house.
The upstairs of the house suffered a great deal of smoke damage but the fire was extinguished saving the home. However it is the things that were stored in there that concerned Sara. “All our Christmas stuff was in there and the things that the kids made mean the most.”
Insurance adjusters were on their way from Thunder Bay Monday morning as well as cleaning crews.
All family members got out of the house safely. The kids went to grandma and grandpa’s in Baudette and John and Sara just counted their lucky stars that they did not lose their entire home Monday morning. “I learned about how fast fires can spread when I worked at the mill (in Fort Frances) but until you see it happen it is hard to believe.” The home was built in the early 1900s and likely would have burned up quickly had the fire spread any further.