by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
TERRY FLEURIE
Eganville Leader
BEACHBURG — Residents of Country Haven Retirement Home in Beachburg are together at Carefor Mackay House in Pembroke. A place they will call home for about two weeks.
The 57 residents were evacuated from their home Friday evening, Nov. 4 when the sprinkler system went off at the home about 7:30 p.m. General Manager / owner Annil Verma noted while it is a retirement home, there are a few residents who require some care and there are people with dementia on the third floor.
“There are very few facilities that has that (dementia floor),” he said.
Friday evening, Whitewater Region Fire Chief Wayne Heubner said all firefighters and stations were paged to the home. Firefighters helped with the evacuation of the residents, as well as checked for a fire.
He said it probably took at least a half-hour to determine there was no actual fire after their arrival on scene.
“We couldn’t see any visible smoke, other than the sprinkler systems, but our first priority was to get the people out,” the Chief said. “We had to make sure everybody was safe and once we got them out, they were up on the floor checking now to make sure there was no fire.
“I don’t think there was and I’m hoping it was a malfunction in the sprinkler but we don’t know that for sure yet,” he added.
Monday afternoon he confirmed there had been no smoke or fire.
Also on Monday afternoon, Mr. Verma said the reason the sprinkler system went off had not yet been determined. While there was no smoke or fire, he said staff are trained that when the sprinkler system goes off, the fire department is called because it usually signals a fire in the building.
“The natural reaction when the sprinkler system goes off is to call the fire department,” he said.
The sprinkler head in the third-floor dining room broke, but the reason is not yet known, he said.
“That’s what caused the water damage in the centre part of the building,” Mr. Verma said, adding, “The residents’ rooms were all saved, but the middle part of the building, on all three floors, including the nursing station, the hallway, the office, the dining rooms, main floor common rooms, were all damaged because of the water.”
Helferty’s Restoration arrived around 1 a.m. Saturday and have been working on drying up the facility, he said. Prior to Helferty’s staff arriving, firefighters and staff who were at the home, and those who arrived after the emergency call went out, cleaned up what they could, he said.
Mr. Verma said the firefighters and paramedics were great at helping to evacuate the residents. He noted staff from the township office, as well as the mayor himself, were on hand to help with the residents, whether it was helping them onto the buses or wrapping them in blankets to keep them warm.
“There were a lot of people here helping us,” he said. “It was amazing how they all worked together.”
He noted the evacuation plan worked perfectly. By 1 a.m. most of the residents had been taken to Carefor Mackay House in Pembroke. There were eight residents who were transported to Caressant Care in Cobden and a few went to their family’s homes, he said. Saturday morning, those at Caressant Care were transported to Carefor Mackay House.
The emergency evacuation process includes a partnership with the community, with a bus company, a place for the residents to be taken if necessary and the emergency services, such as police, fire and ambulance, he said.
“Under any circumstances, if we have a fire, if we have to evacuate, we have a whole procedure to follow and staff are all trained in it,” he said.
Within 15 minutes, the residents were all evacuated, Mr. Verma said. The residents were placed on buses that had arrived as well as in ambulances.
Mr. Verma arrived on scene shortly after nine p.m. and by then everything was under control, it was just a matter of waiting to find out what was happening. The families of the residents were also notified of the evacuation.
The facility has to be dried out before the damage can be repaired, Mr. Verma said. While it’s difficult to determine when the residents can return home, he expects it’ll be at least two weeks. Until then, they will remain at Mackay House, with staff from Country Haven working there. He noted himself, as well as the Director of Care, will be working out of both places.
There is no formal estimate of damage, but Mr. Verma said it’s probably about $300,000. He is currently discussing the insurance policy with the insurance company and adjusters. All the flooring has to come off of all three floors and the furniture in the common rooms were destroyed, he said.
Friday night, Fire Chief Heubner said he was very happy with how everything worked out.
“Everything did work as planned,” he remarked. “When the first crew arrived on scene, the first priority was to evacuate the building.
“That was our number one priority,” he added.
Chief Heubner said many of the residents at Country Haven use wheelchairs and there are a number of residents with dementia.
“Everything worked fine, it just took a while,” he commented.
Chief Heubner said the building is equipped with elevators and they remained operational during the evacuation.
“We don’t feel there was a fire but what set the sprinkler systems off, we don’t know,” he said. “It blew, it set it off right away.”
He said all first responders worked extremely well together.
“I’m very pleased with the ambulance people. Everything worked well, the buses arrived.
“And once the call went out, Tom (Chaput) and all the Country Haven day staff got here pretty quick,” he added.
