A fire in Van Anda on Texada Island on February 28 destroyed a house and injured an occupant.
Van Anda Fire Rescue chief Mike Craggs said the call came in around 7:15 pm.
“Our fire department fully responded and we also issued a mutual aid response from Gillies Bay [fire rescue] to contain the fire,” said Craggs.
He said it looked like the fire started near the rear door in the basement.
“The occupant had to go through the smoke and the heat to get to the door, which is where her injuries came from,” said Craggs. “Once that door was opened, the in-rushing of air just took off. Basically, it was a flash-over.”
Craggs could not comment on the extent of the injuries to the occupant. He said the house is a total loss. There is only one partial wall still standing, he added.
All of the structures nearby the burning house were hosed down to ensure there was no spread of the fire.
Craggs said his fire department was at the scene until about midnight. Fire crews went back and scanned the scene and saw some hot spots developing, so they were doused. The Gillies Bay crew pulled out by about 11 pm.
“We did as much as we could to contain the fire,” said Craggs. “That’s our job. We don’t have enough people to do an interior attack and in this case it wouldn’t have been safe, anyway. Why would you go inside to save somebody when there is nobody there?
“It was an exemplary job by both Gillies Bay and Van Anda [fire rescue].”
In terms of an investigation, Craggs said he would be working with an insurance investigator for the householder.
“We’ll try to get to the root cause of what the source of the combustion was,” added Craggs. “We’ll make a decision from that.”
