Crews from the Lake Cowichan Fire Department are still on the scene of a house fire on Mountain View Drive in The Slopes development near Lake Cowichan.
“We’ll be here for a while yet,” said Lake Cowichan Fire Chief Doug Knott.
The fire started around 11 a.m.; the cause is unknown. An explosion was heard from what was likely a propane cylinder beside the home that caught on fire, said Gary Miller of the Lake Cowichan Fire Department. Knott said while the cause of the fire is still under investigation, the tank is not what caused the blaze.
About 15 crew members headed out to the blazing house, and the Youbou Fire Department was also called in for assistance.
By the time the fire was seen, it was already well established, Knott said, with all three storeys of the home ablaze, both inside and outside.
It was a narrow escape for a woman who was in the house at the time of the fire.
“There was a lady in her bedroom,” Knott said. “A neighbour knocked on the door and got her out.”
There were no injuries, he said.
It was a busy morning, Miller said, as while that fire burned, a second structure fire call came in for a home on Boundary Road. That fire was not as severe, caused by an electrical appliance that generated a lot of smoke.
RCMP were also called out to the scene of the fire at The Slopes and remain there continuing the investigation into the cause of the blaze.
More as it becomes available.
