A fire that broke out recently in the Darras Court neighbourhood razed eight townhouses; the inferno, which started Saturday night, continued to burn throughout the night until firefighters brought it under control the next morning.
The conflagration destroyed Parveen Thaper’s townhouse of 22 years, leaving her, her two children, and the family cat (who had long since fled the scene entirely) without a home.
Unfortunately for Thaper, the fire occurred when she had just cancelled her insurance coverage on her home temporarily, citing affordability issues.
"Thank God we are safe . . . I don't care about the stuff," she said.
The blaze quickly spread from one unit to the next, and it did not take long for the building’s entire top half to be engulfed by fire.
Last Saturday’s fire mirrored a similar incident in May 2009, when a nearby eight-unit complex was also ravaged by flames. Neighbours of the complex had complained of the building’s outdated construction standards and lack of firewalls on the upper floors.
Both the complex that burned down six years ago and the Darras Court townhouses were built by the same company and in the same style as well.
Brampton Fire Department platoon chief Ed Davis noted that both the complex and the townhouses all sported mansard-style roofs.
The mansard roof, also called a French roof or curb roof, is characterized by two slopes on each side, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper to provide extra habitable space. Davis believes that this design, while aesthetic and functional, helped spread the fire quickly in both incidents.
