Vehicle fire considered suspicious
Courtesy Kaniet White
A fire that completely engulfed a white pickup truck in flames early Wednesday morning is officially being investigated, confirmed Kyle Zachary, spokesperson for the Kahnawake Peacekeepers.
“Right now, we’re looking in the area for security cameras. We’re trying to identify a suspect. That’s where we are right now,” said Zachary, who added that anyone with any information can contact the Peacekeepers’ main phone line at 450-632-6505 and speak to any officer.
The call was made to the Kahnawake Fire Brigade (KFB) at 2:10 a.m. Wednesday morning to report that the pickup truck was on fire and was very close to houses in the New Development neighbourhood.
KFB fire chief Wihse Stacey said the fire was immediately determined to be a high-priority fire, and a truck with five firefighters as well as an ambulance responded.
The vehicle was already engulfed when they arrived, he said.
“Because of the fact that the vehicle was so close to other structures, obviously we have to make sure that those other structures are safe. So, we have to apply strategies and tactics to make sure that we cool those structures off as fast as possible,” said Stacey.
That means cooling off the buildings first, then attacking the fire itself. For a vehicle fire, they must also watch for any fuel leakage that may cause the fire to spread - modern fuel tanks are made of plastic for safety reasons, meaning they melt in case of a fire rather than explode or rupture like metal ones could.
He said all in all, it took less than an hour for the fire to be extinguished, and that a cause could not be determined on the scene. Some paneling on the buildings has melted from the heat, but otherwise no one was hurt, and the fire did not spread further.
Kaniet White, who lives near where the fire happened, heard loud popping noises around 1:30 a.m. while he was in bed watching The Roast of Kevin Hart on Netflix.
“At first, I brushed it off, thinking it was my dog jumping onto the doghouse again and banging around on the tin roof. Then it happened again. Louder. Sharper. More violent,” said White.
Later, White figured out it must have been the truck’s tires popping, but in the moment, all he knew was that something did not feel right, and he decided to go and see what was happening outside the window.
When he saw the flames, he immediately rushed to get dressed and went towards the house.
“I leaned on my horn repeatedly, desperately trying to wake the neighbours inside the nearby duplex before the fire could spread,” said White.
Then, he grabbed a nearby garden hose and tried to spray down the buildings around the truck to cool them down, then the truck itself.
“The fire was unbelievably intense. It felt like trying to stop a volcano with a single garden hose,” said White.
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“All I could think about was keeping the homes nearby from catching fire and making sure nobody was trapped or hurt before emergency crews arrived.”
The KFB arrived shortly after, and the fire was controlled.
White credited his own time as a volunteer firefighter as to why he knew how to react.
“I’ve seen my fair share of house fires, vehicle fires, and serious car accidents over the years. When that fire broke out this morning, instinct and adrenaline kicked in fast. Once you’ve been around emergency scenes enough times, you learn how quickly seconds can matter,” said White.
