Two Buffalo Creek residents are displaced after a building in their backyard burned down on Canim-Hendrix Lake Road, south of Archie Meadow Road this evening.
Nobody was injured.
Nicholas Thomas said he was cooking around 5 p.m. when he looked through the window and saw smoke coming from the building.
“I come running out and I thought I could put it out with the garden hose,” said Thomas, “but it started burning too much.”
The homeowner said he and his wife, Florence tried to put out the fire using two fire extinguishers and a garden hose.
Thomas said he called the fire department around 5:45 p.m. when it was clear they couldn’t control it themselves.
He said firefighters arrived shortly after and had the fire under control not long before the Free Press arrived at 9:30 p.m.
The building housed three rooms – a sauna, a smokehouse and a shed.
Thomas said he believed the fire started in the sauna.
The building appeared to have sat roughly 10 metres from the main house.
Siding on the back of the house was melted off by the heat of the fire.
“I got no words,” said Thomas with his hand on his mouth as he stood looking at what was left of his backyard.
The building that once housed his so many of his belongings was unrecognizable.
Thomas said he and his wife are being put up in town because of smoke damage inside their home.
The Canim Lake and Forest Grove Volunteer Fire Departments both attended the scene.
More to come.
