An Osprey Lake home and guest house were completely destroyed by fire Sunday.
According to Hayes Creek fire chief Rob Miller the cause of the blaze – which also consumed about an acre of brush and trees – is still unknown.
The fire started about 5 p.m., and Hayes Creek Fire Rescue and Erris Volunteer Fire Departments responded with two engines and three tenders.
According to an Erris incident report “due to the fire’s close proximity to large old growth trees, BC Forestry’s assistance was requested and that agency deployed four firefighters and a helicopter.”
Cara Lewis of Princeton was fishing with her family when the fire broke out.
Her husband and daughter were on the lake when they saw the flames, and yelled to the shore for someone to call for help.
“He saw the shed go up and within seconds it seemed like the whole tree lit right up and all you could see was flames. They said they could feel the heat of it on the water. My daughter was crying. She was so scared.”
The family quickly packed their gear, and then assisted a pair of campers with getting ready to leave.
“We loaded up all our stuff. It was a little windy out there and it wasn’t that far away…After seeing that tree light up I was like ‘holy smokes we are in trouble.'”
Lewis said the firefighters arrived very quickly. “It felt like it was not even five or ten minutes and they were there that fast.”
Miller said his crew worked all night, in shifts, working successfully to protect a neighboring home and stop the fire from spreading.
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