Fire guts Fisher Ave. bungalow

A couple delivering the morning newspaper is being credited with alerting firefighters of a fast-moving fire that gutted a bungalow on Fisher Avenue Thursday morning.

An elderly Ottawa woman was treated for smoke inhalation after she and her grandson were forced to flee the fast-moving fire at the wartime bungalow immediately west of the Experimental Farm at about 5:40 a.m.

Elaine and Bob Bolduc were delivering the Ottawa Citizen in the neighbourhood when they saw the occupants of the home standing by the road after having fled the fire. They helped both of them to their van and kept them warm until firefighters arrived and alerted officials to the blaze.

The elderly woman in the house was treated for minor smoke inhalation, while the twenty-year-old grandson was uninjured.

A pet cat was found dead at the scene.

Fire officials said the fire appeared to have started in one of the bedrooms, and did extensive damage to the house and its contents. Damage to the home is estimated at $275,000.

Police had closed Fisher from Crerar Avenue to Shillington Avenue, but the road has since reopened.