A Bruce County plow operator alerted residents in Paisley that their home was on fire.
Paisley Fire Fire Chief Rob Bonderud said the driver noticed the blaze at about 4:20 a.m. Thursday.
"Where the fire started, the house was unoccupied at the time. It's changed hands and the new owners are doing some work but weren't living there. So actually a Bruce County plow driver driving by noticed the light and flames and drove by and woke up the people beside," he explained.
Bonderud stresses the importance of smoke alarms.
"The fire was in the attic area and the smoke alarms had not activated so once the gentleman driving the Bruce County plow knocked on the door is about when the smoke started propagating down into the main area and the smoke alarms activated," he added.
He said damage is in the area of a million dollars with one house completely destroyed, and the second with significant damage.
Chesley firefighters assisted at the scene, and the fire was out by about 11:30 a.m.
No cause has been determined.