Two people were taken to hospital after an early morning house fire Saturday, Sept. 8 on the 600 block of Fort Street in Hope.
The fire, which burned all the contents of one room in the home, was extinguished by quick action on the part of three residents of the house said fire chief Tom DeSorcy. The Hope Fire Department attended to mop up and ensure the fire was out, which took 90 minutes from the time of the 3:30 a.m. call.
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The fire started in a bedroom inhabited by one woman, it appears the woman was sleeping at the time the fire began. An investigation is still ongoing into the cause of the fire, however DeSorcy said it was likely candles which lit the fire.
“I believe she had candles burning and woke up, I’m presuming, to a bed on fire,” he said.
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The three people inside the home were alerted to the fire by a smoke alarm. They sprang into action by dousing it with the tools they had available.
“They took action and used some extinguishers and then eventually a garden hose from the outside, to essentially knock the fire down. When we got there we were able to mop it up, and everything was kept there in the ‘room of origin’ as we call it,” he said.
Two of the three were taken to hospital by ambulance, DeSorcy was unaware of the extent of their injuries as of Saturday.
Although all contents of the room are destroyed, De Sorcy said the home is still habitable.
“It could have been much worse, had it not been discovered at the stage it was. And we were fortunate that the owners, the occupants took the action that they did,” he said.
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The Hope Fire Department continues to get calls for campfires and smoke sightings. While a fire ban was lifted in Haida Gwaii Sept. 7, other areas of the coastal fire region of B.C. including Hope remain under a fire ban.
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