‘Started smoking and was on fire’: Severe storm causes damage in Renfrew

A number of homes remain without power and damage is still being cleared from a suppertime storm that raged through the Town of Renfrew and surrounding area May 22. 

Kerri and Paul LaBossiere opened the living room curtains of their Stevenson Crescent home around 5:50 p.m. to check on a large backyard spruce tree that had split in the high winds and heavy rains that battered the area. 

“Luckily that fell sideways and not on the house,” said Kerri. “But then we looked out our front window and saw the neighbour’s tree down on the road. It had hit the power lines – we still don’t know which line it was exactly – and then the line started smoking and was on fire. The line ended up on our driveway and across our yard.” 

It was an unsettling experience, but Kerri said they are grateful for the quick response of the fire department and power crews. 

“It startled us when we first saw the line start to smoke and catch fire,” she said, noting about 50 yards of the line started to smoke.  

Fire crews arrived first and blocked off the roads to wait for Renfrew Hydro. 

At 9 p.m., hydro crews were still on scene and the LaBossieres were unsure when power would be restored. 

Large and medium-sized trees were down in a number of areas, including on Prince Street and Barr Street and some minor damage to homes was reported. On Francis Street, a trampoline was blown into a pool.  

Renfrew Mayor Tom Sidney took to social media with a message for residents. 

He noted the fire department was out in four different locations helping people, development and works crews were dealing with any hazards presented by the storm and Renfrew Hydro workers were attending to the various issues causing outages.  

“They’re out there, they’re working hard, I hope everybody’s safe. If you need any assistance for any damages that fell that you need help with, reach out to people and I just want you to know they’re working hard and we’re going to work as fast as we can to get this back up and going,” said the mayor. 

(Written by Sherry Haaima)