Powell River house fire extinguished

A fire on Saturna Avenue on June 11 at around 5:25 pm at a single family house resulted in extensive smoke damage to the residence.

Deputy fire chief Rocky Swanson said the house was occupied by two senior citizens. He said the fire started in a single room that was being used as an office space downstairs.

“The homeowner extinguished the fire initially with a small fire extinguisher but because the heat was so intense, it reignited,” said Swanson. “The extinguisher was empty. The office burst into flames and the entire room was engulfed and was destroyed.”

Swanson said the occupants of the house contacted 911 and extricated themselves from the home.

“Our duty crew arrived within four minutes and I was one minute behind them, so I took command,” said Swanson. “The firefighters entered the house and knocked it down almost instantly. Then we started ventilation operations.

“Because the room was full of computer equipment and books, and plastic, the smoke was incredibly toxic and dense, and it covered every square inch of that house. There’s nothing in that house that doesn’t have significant smoke damage of some kind.”

Swanson said the fire damage was almost entirely confined to the one room. He said when the firefighters hit the fire with water, the window in the room shattered and the wind blew the flames over top of the firefighters, but because they were holding their hoses and firing water at the fire, they were all fine.

Swanson said the fire was doubling in size every 30 seconds, and it was electrically charged, so had the fire department been a minute or so later, the fire would have been a “much bigger issue.”

“There’s no question it would have spread down the hallway and it would have been a lot more difficult to extinguish,” said Swanson.

There were 12 firefighters initially on scene, including two career staff, and two more career staff showed up as call-backs, according to Swanson.

The occupants of the house were not taken to hospital but were treated at the scene for shock. They were not able to stay in their home, and probably won’t be able to for a week, until after the cleaners have come in, said Swanson.

“In the room of origin, everything is a total write-off,” said Swanson.

He said he hasn’t completed his investigation into the fire, but the point of origin is obvious and the cause is pointing to an electrical fire starting the blaze.

“I’ll continue my investigation on Monday (June 13) and my written assessment will be done by the end of the week,” said Swanson.

“It was handled effectively. The fire was an example of having fully trained, certified firefighters on scene quickly. Because they are full-service-trained firefighters, they were able to enter the structure and go directly through the interior to that fire. It needed the attention of a direct stream of water rapidly. Because the firefighters were in there so fast, and hit it so hard, that’s the only reason we were probably able to save that house.”

Swanson said that if a fire occurs in a room, the best thing to do is to close the door to help contain the fire until fire crews arrive. He also recommended having fire extinguishers.

“That may have been the difference maker,” said Swanson. “The couple had a small fire extinguisher and they were able to knock the fire down initially. That was one of the major factors that helped us save their home.

“The one thing I would say to people is buy the biggest one you can afford. If you can get a 15-pound extinguisher, get one. The issue we run into at fires where people have an extinguisher is that they buy the tiny kitchen ones and they just don’t cut it. You want an A, B, C extinguisher. Also, if you can put smoke detectors in every single room, do it.”

Swanson said that smoke detectors now can have bluetooth and be linked, so if one goes off, they all go off.

“It’s all about early detection,” said Swanson.

He said the homeowners at the Saturna Avenue fire did everything right and everything that they could under the circumstances.