While the Victoria Fire Department worked to extinguish smouldering debris, a flock of chickens poke and peck through the rubble of what was once their backyard coop.
Fire crews were dispatched to the 500-block of Quadra Street around 12:20 p.m. after about six 9-1-1 calls came in about a structure fire. When crews arrived they found a chicken coop fully engulfed in flames, now spreading to nearby bushes and melting the metal of parked cars.
While the coop fire was quickly extinguished by crews, but all that remained was the wood frame, scraps of metal and some chicken wire.
Battalion chief Gord Taylor says all people and chickens safe following coop fire Monday afternoon. pic.twitter.com/WuuQIQWuP6
— Nina Grossman (@NinaGrossman) October 28, 2019
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With the help of VicPD, crews blocked traffic on Quadra Street between Humboldt and Southgate Street while they worked to put out the blaze.Victoria Fire Department battalion chief Gord Taylor said all the chickens survived the fire.
“It seems that the chickens have all been accounted for so it seems that everything will be alright, it’s just the loss of the chicken coop and some vehicle damage,” he said.
A jeep parked near the coop caught fire and was badly damaged, Taylor said. “And then the shrubs caught fire, the fence caught fire…on the other side of the fence was another truck, so it was kind of a line of vehicles and fences that caught on fire.”
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One neighbour went to hospital after obtaining minor burns while alerting and evacuating neighbours, but otherwise, there were no injuries.
Taylor said there was no indication of foul play and investigators are working to determine if a heat source in the chicken coop could have ignited the blaze.
“This doesn’t appear to be suspicious in any way at this time,” he said. “At this time it just appears to be accidental.”
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