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The childhood home he fought to protect now reduced to singed rubble, one heritage advocate wants to see more done to save other vacant historic properties from a similar fate.

Bruce Lamb grew up living in the Cedars, a 19th-century heritage building on the bank of the Thames River across from Springbank Park. The estate burned to the ground Saturday evening, about three years after it was given a heritage designation by the city.

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Lamb rushed to the scene just after 9:30 p.m. Saturday when he got a call from a friend.

“We watched them douse it with water and basically stayed until the flames were out,” he said. “It was the worst fear come true.”

Lamb lived in the home until his parents divorced and put it on the market. The house and property were sold to Drewlo Holdings in 1978 but had been vacant since 2013.

In the following years, Lamb pushed the city to give the Cedars protection under the Ontario Heritage Act. Council handed down a heritage distinction in 2015.