What started fire in mulch at North Winds Inn unknown, says fire marshal

A fire at the North Winds Inn in Brackley Beach, P.E.I., on Sunday started in the mulch spread on a flower bed, says the fire marshal's office.

The fire destroyed a building at the inn complex that contained 16 suites and meeting rooms, including a hall that could be used for weddings.

The flower bed was under an exterior stairwell on the southwest corner of the building. The exact ignition source could not be determined.

"Nine times out of 10 when we deal with these types of fires it's usually a discarded cigarette," said provincial fire marshal Dave Rossiter.

However Rossiter said it is also possible the ignition could have been caused by a piece of glass that concentrated the sun's rays.  

No one died in the fire, but two people were injured.

The fire marshal said with the building completely destroyed, eyewitness accounts and photographs taken during the early stages of the fire were instrumental in determining its origin.

Seven fire departments and about 100 firefighters worked together to contain the fire, including hosing down nearby trees to prevent its spread.

Taking care with mulch

This is the second major fire that started in a mulch-covered garden this month, and the third in two years.

On July 17, a 29-unit apartment building in Charlottetown was destroyed in an early-morning fire that started in mulch. Last August, Montague town hall burned to the ground after a fire started in mulch.

"We've been giving out advisories on mulch fires since 2012. It's nothing new, and we try and do it in our seasonal rotation with advisories that we give out on fire prevention. It just so happened that this had struck two larger buildings," Rossiter said.  

The fire marshal's office included some guidelines for the safe use of mulch in gardens.

• Keep mulch 50 centimetres from the building or combustible portions of the building.
• Mulch layers should be no more than seven centimetres thick.
• Larger piles of mulch should not be exposed to the sun.
• Keep mulch near or around a building moist.

The fire marshal also asked that people take care with cigarettes and other smoking materials when walking by commercial buildings or going through drive-thrus.

Rossiter said going forward, he would like to look into creating regulations to restrict how close to buildings mulch is permitted. 

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