Crews responding to a duplex fire in Courtenay on Feb. 16 were able to extinguish the flames with no injuries.
Jonathan Welsh, deputy fire chief, says the call came in at 8:08 p.m., crews were on their way one minute later, and arrived at 8:10.
“We had crews here doing physical testing last night. So they were on the truck within 30 seconds and they were out the door pretty quick,” Welsh said. “Construction in that area, the [Oriented strandboard], it’s a real light construction, so it could have got away really fast. It was lucky that people were there quick.”
Welsh says both sides of the duplex were evacuated, with the alpha side having three occupants, and the bravo side having two. The bravo side is the one where the fire occurred, and is where the damage was contained to.
“The bravo side is definitely unlivable conditions at this point. The structure was not burned to the ground. Crews knocked [the fire] down before it deep seated in this structure, there was no loss of roof or anything like that.”
Welsh says emergency social services were in touch with the displaced occupants.
The Courtenay duplex where the fire occured is a care home operated by Milieu Family Services, according to Welsh. CHEK News has reached out to Milieu for more information and will update the story if a response is received.
The cause of the fire is believed to be a candle, and Welsh says it is a good reminder for people to not leave candles unattended.
“For anybody that’s choosing to use a candle, candle with care,” Welsh said. “Make sure that you’re never leaving a candle unsupervised. This is just a sign of what could happen.”
Laura Brougham
