The North Bay Fire Department says the rear of a home on Bourke Street was engulfed in fire on Friday night.

Deputy fire chief Greg Saunders says the cause is undetermined and damages are pegged at $100,000.

No one was home at the time of the blaze.

But Saunders says at first there was some concern that was there was someone still inside the home and this caused a delay in fire suppression efforts.

“Life Safety and preservation is our first priority. We did an extensive search of the home and thankfully no one was there and then we could concentrate on fire suppression,” he says.

He says if you can tell them information that everyone’s safe and no one is inside the home that impacts their strategy.

Saunders says they can focus on fire suppression efforts rather than a rescue.

Saunders advises the public that it’s important to establish a meeting place outside your home when there’s a fire to ensure everyone has been accounted for.

He says never re-enter the home and you should also provide the correct number of properly installed, properly maintained smoke and carbon monoxide alarms to firefighters.

Filed under: bourke-street, north-bay-fire-department