WATCH: It’s been a devastating few days in terms of house fires on Vancouver Island. Now another seven people are homeless after flames swept through their duplex in Oyster River this morning. There have been at least four other residential structure fires in the last week including one that was fatal. Dean Stoltz has the lastest.
Seven people were displaced by an overnight fire at a duplex in the Comox Valley.
At around 10:30 p.m., the Oyster River Fire Department was called to a structure fire at one side of a duplex on Upland Road in Oyster River. A mother, father and young child were able to escape from the home but were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation.
Crews put out the fire and investigators performed two separate checks on the property afterwards to look for smoke and flame. However, at 3:30 a.m., the entire structure, including the other half of the duplex, was on fire again. This was an hour after the second check.
The four people who lived in that home, including two children aged four and 10, had already left after the first fire call and were not injured.
According to the fire department, it appears unattended candles started the fire but they do not know exactly how it flared up again.
Fire crews were able to leave the duplex by Tuesday afternoon. The structure was significantly damaged.
The community is rallying around the victims. Donations can be taken to Right At School Group Childcare, at the old Oyster River Elementary School or you can email Tracey Wardrope at [email protected].
This is the second major house fire in the Comox Valley over the past two weeks. One man died and several people were displaced after a flames spread to three houses in Cumberland on Saturday.
Six people were also left without a home after a fire on the Stz?uminus First Nation on Monday. There is a GoFundMe set up for the family to purchase a used trailer.
Seven people were displaced overnight after a fire at a duplex in the Comox Valley.
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