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by Darcey McLaughlin

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The investigation continued yesterday into the cause of a Monday afternoon fire at Renauld Furniture on King George Highway.

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The blaze broke out in the back of the business sometime after 1 p.m. Store manager Johanne LeBouthillier was in the store when the fire started.

"We heard a bang in the front because it was probably the sprinkler system coming on but then I was in the office talking on the phone so I'm not sure what happened," she said.

She said the store was quickly evacuated and nobody was hurt. Store sales manager Michel LeFrance said Tuesday afternoon the store had been busy throughout the day but only one customer was in the store when the fire broke out.

"Nobody got hurt which is always the main thing," LeFrance said.

The fire quickly engulfed the back section of the store. Smoke from the fire could be seen from the Centennial Bridge as thick smoke cover the Douglastown area reaching the Power Centre where customers and employees could see and smell the smoke.

Traffic was stopped on King George Highway for a time but officers from the Miramichi Police Force soon got traffic moving once fire crews were in place. Dozens of onlookers, including residents who live in the area, stood by watching the drama unfold.

Miramichi Fire Department Chief John Mather said the call came in at 1:43 p.m and the department responded with three engines and the aerial unit to fight what the chief said was a tough fire.

"That was a fair size fire," Mather said. "The biggest concern was the type of fire it was — furniture store — which is a nasty fire to start with and also the building itself throughout the years has been renovated and it's a building on top of a building [which] made it a little difficult to fight."

Although there were rumours it was an electrical fire, Mather said that hasn't been determined yet. Also, despite some reports, LeFrance said there is no estimate on the amount of the damages but he expects it will cost more than $1 million. He said the entire back section of the store is lost, as is the merchandise. Mather said even though the fire was contained to the back of the store, the rest was affected.

"The biggest loss would be through smoke and water damage. We were very fortunate that we contained the fire to one area of the building and the boys did a tremendous job of keeping it there and not allowing it to spread throughout the whole building," he said.

The business itself was recently sold to a new group of owners. Ironically, they were in the city Monday to look at the business. Instead they arrived with insurance forms and a digital camera to watch as the fire burned.

LeFrance said the new owners are stepping in take care of the 22 staff at the store.

"The staff's all going to be looked after. The new owners have actually announced this morning that nobody's gonna get laid off, they're going to look after their wages and everything," he said.

As for the merchandise, LeFrance said it will most likely be sold to a company that specializes in buying fire damaged items.

It took 16 firefighters four hours to get the fire out. At one point two firefighters were on the roof as a section collapsed, but they were away from the caved-in area. Mather said in a fire like that, there are always safety issues.

"Oh yes, it's always a concern. Firefighter safety is number one, that's why we have guys up there watching over them and making sure they're not where we assume that collapse zone is going to be," he said.

Some firefighters had to be taken to the hospital. Mather said none were seriously injured but the heat of the day, the fire and the equipment caused dehydration and heat exhaustion for some. He praised the ambulance attendants for their efforts.

"Tremendous job, tremendous bunch of people. I don't have a bad thing to say about those guys. They were right there for us." he said.

Mather said just getting to the fire was a tough task.

"To get to the seat of the fire [was difficult], it started high in the ceiling area and of course we had two ceilings basically. We had a roof built over a roof. Once we got the roof vented and some holes into it then we found out were it was and we could hit it from the top," he said.

Firefighters from four city stations were on hand to deal with the fire and Mather said he was very proud of the job they did.

"I am ecstatic at the way those guys fought that fire. They did one hell of a job. It was a real good team effort, they did a tremendous job those guys. I can't praise them enough after this one. It's just unreal. Everyone of them just worked so well. We had four stations there and they all worked as a team and that's the way it's suppose to work here," he said.

As for the business itself LeFrance said they will be back in business very soon.

"We should be back in business somewhere hopefully in a couple of days. We are shopping for a temporary location right now as it is. As soon as we've found a temporary location we're going to be right back in business," LeFrance said.

He expects it will take about three months for the actual store to reopen.