One man is dead and as many as three others were injured in separate fires in the Penticton area Feb. 20 and Feb. 22.
Crews from Penticton Fire Rescue were called to a vehicle fire on Smythe Drive just off of Lakeside Drive several kilometres south of the city about 5:15 p.m. Feb. 20.
“By the time we got there the fire was pretty well extinguished by a neighbour who had used an extinguisher on it,” said Fire Chief Wayne Williams. “Then as the guys were investigating further they noticed there were flames in the upstairs bedroom so they gained entry, extinguished the fire and found the body of a male, deceased.”
Williams added the neighbour had earlier heard a loud noise that sounded like an explosion and then the sound of the vehicle horn being blown which he then went to investigate.
He then found the SUV parked in the driveway on fire.
The unidentified male was believed to be in his late 60’s or early 70’s.
“We did a debriefing Saturday night for our guys and the matter is pretty well wrapped up, the coroner was involved, the RCMP were involved our investigator was involved, so that’s pretty much it,” said Williams.
There was no one else in the home at the time.
The second incident happened about 6:30 p.m. Feb. 22 in a townhouse at 298 Maple St.
Upon their arrival the firefighters discovered a garage fully involved in flames.
“Crews were able to extinguish the fire pretty fast and also able to rescue two people off the rear of the building using a ladder for one and the other one had jumped,” said Williams. “Both of them were taken by ambulance Penticton Regional Hospital by ambulance.
One of those people were treated from injuries sustained from the jump and the other what is believed to be smoke inhalation. As well, another person may have gone to hospital as a result of smoke inhalation..
As a precaution natural gas to the block containing four residential buildings was shut off.
Some residences were also evacuated due to the proximity of some acetylene gas tanks.
The people living in three of the four of the four residences were able to return that night.
According to the fire chief the initial cause of the fire appears to be from smoking materials being used inside the garage on a mattress.
There were no working smoke alarms and while the fire was put out before it reached the townhouse unit, there was considerable smoke damage.
This fire was the third involving a structure in four days responded to by local fire crews.
The other was an early-morning blaze Feb. 19 at a Greenwood Drive home where flames spread from a patio to the interior.
The two elderly residents escaped injury.
“It was pretty tough but they’re (firefighters) doing well,” said Williams “And then just watching them again last night, ‘we’re here, we’re doing our best.’ But your mood goes up because we’ve saved two people here that’s pretty good.”
