One person was sent to hospital after a fire in a housing complex on Gertrude Street in Port Alberni July 25, 2020.
Fire crews from Port Alberni, Beaver Creek and Sproat Lake responded to a call at about 4:30 p.m. that a unit in a multi-family townhouse complex was burning. “We arrived on scene to heavy smoke and fire showing from one of the units,” Port Alberni Fire Dept. Chief Mike Owens said.
“The duty crew went in an aggressively attacked the fire and managed to keep it to the unit of origin,” he added. “The heaviest fire involvement when we arrived on the scene was on the second floor.”
One person who was in the suite at the time was treated for smoke inhalation; the unit housed a family of four, Owens said.
READ: Six people escape as fire consumes residence in Port Alberni complex
A GoFundMe campaign has been set up for the family that lost “everything” in the fire. The campaign, organized by Stella Peters, is raising funds to replace the items that were lost, including clothing, linens, furniture and food items. The fundraiser can be found at www.gofundme.com/f/fundraising-for-james-amp-annette-nookemus-amp-family.
By 5:30 p.m. the fire was essentially out and crews were mopping up at the site. Traffic was blocked in both directions on Gertrude Street for at least an hour, as there were various fire trucks, ambulances and police cars at the scene. Beaver Creek Volunteer Fire Dept. members had been doing some training in the area, while Sproat Lake VFD members were responding to a first responder call and were heading into their firehall, so they sent a crew to assist as well.
Port Alberni fire crews had just wrapped up putting out a small fire at Dry Creek Park when they were called to the housing complex, Owens said.
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