The Fort St. James fire department responded to a multiple-unit structure fire on July 15 at Hale Meadows on Stuart Drive.
Steven DeRousie, fire chief said the fire originated in the kitchen and is suspected to be electrical in nature.
“The fire was spreading quickly. An aggressive attack was mounted from the exterior to control the fire prior to entering to contain and fully extinguish it,” he said.
The fire started at 1:55 pm and the smoke was coming out of the ground floor of the building doorway. The fire was contained to one unit in a group of four townhouses, DeRousie added.
Te fire was under control at 2:23 pm and put-out at 3:02 pm, he said, with overhaul of any remaining embers completed by 4:22 pm. There were 11 firefighters on-scene and four firefighting apparatus, DeRousie said.
BC Ambulance attended the fire to monitor firefighters for signs of over-exertion and heat exhaustion and BC Hydro ensured electricity was safely shut off to the units. The RCMP maintained traffic and crowd control at the scene of the fire.
The occupant of the house was away when the fire started and came home to the fire, DeRousie said. He said the family in the adjacent unit were evacuated overnight as a safety precaution.
“The fire was quickly confined to the one unit thus preventing damage to any of the three adjoining townhouses and limiting fire damage to the kitchen, with heavy smoke damage throughout the rest of unit,” DeRousie said.
Nobody was hurt as a result of the fire.
Aman Parhar
Editor, Vanderhoof Omineca Express
aman.parhar@ominecaexpress.com
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