Oro-Medonte fire crews responded to a family home in Prices Corner that was engulfed in flames on Wednesday morning.
Tammy Leigh, who lives next door to the 18 Lake View Dr. home, had just arrived home from work before 11 a.m. when she heard screaming coming from her neighbour’s sister.
“It was a terrifying scream,” she told OrilliaMatters. “She screamed that her dog was in the house and that the house was on fire.”
Leigh provided a ladder to her neighbour’s sister who was able to escape the flames from the home's upper level.
“It started as black smoke,” she described. “It just lit right up.”
Leigh says the home belongs to a family with three young children. She believes only the neighbour’s sister was in the house at the time of the fire.
“I believe everybody got out safe,” she said.
Leigh says the fire started inside, but she doesn’t know what caused the blaze.
Orillia OPP Const. Derek Tilley says access to Horseshoe Valley Road is currently limited so fire crews can access water for their tankers. The road will fully re-open once the fire crews have control of the fire.
Tilley says the OPP was dispatched at 11:15 and were on the scene in less than five minutes.
“Right now, we have a structure fire that Oro fire is in the process of putting out and getting control of,” he said.
While details are still scarce, Jenny Legget, the township's communication and public relations officer, confirmed the single-family home was fully engulfed in flames on Wednesday morning when firefighters arrived on the scene.
