A rural home was fully involved when fire crews arrived on March 13. Photo supplied by Campbell River Fire Department.

A rural home was fully involved when fire crews arrived on March 13. Photo supplied by Campbell River Fire Department.

VIDEO: Vancouver Island home destroyed by fire

Second structure saved

  • Mar. 14, 2020 12:00 a.m.

Campbell River and Oyster River fire departments responded to a house fire at around 7 p.m. on March 13.

Crews were called to an incident on the ERT logging road near Willis Road. The house, located around 7 km up the logging road, was fully involved when crews arrived on scene. Two propane tanks and an adjacent house were in danger from the fire. The residents of the home had called 911 and escaped the building with no injuries.

Three engines, a ladder truck and two water tenders were on scene. The area is without hydrants, so Campbell River Fire called Oyster River to bring an additional water tender. They were able to make use of a nearby river to help with the water supply.

Around 19 members of the Campbell River crew were on scene for a few hours, and two members of Oyster River were on scene as well.

Crews were focused on minimizing damage to the adjacent house, as well as making sure two large propane tanks nearby were safe.

“We focused on cooling those tanks, so we didn;t have any additional risk of those tanks blowing off,” said Campbell River fire chief Thomas Doherty. “There was a little bit of heat damage ot he other house, the windows were cracked. But we were able to save that home form the fire.”

Doherty said that the fire started in the chimney area, and that the residents had been using a woodburning stove at the time of the fire.

“We want to get that message out there about making sure people have working smoke alarms in their homes,” Doherty added.


marc.kitteringham@campbellrivermirror.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter

Nanaimo News Bulletin