A West Vancouver waterfront home on Copper Cove Road is completely engulfed in flames as firefighters work to control the fire Sunday night. Nobody was in the home at the time.
Photograph by: photo Duncan Shields , North Shore NEWS
IT could be weeks before investigators determine the cause of a fire that totally destroyed a West Vancouver waterfront home Sunday night.
Several 9-1-1 calls came in just before 11: 30 p.m. Sunday when neighbours spotted smoke and flames coming from a home on the corner of Isleview Road and Copper Cove Road.
"Firefighters arrived on the scene to find a two-storey wood-frame home on the waterfront mostly engulfed in flame and a very, very vigorous fire burning in the house," said Martin Ernst, assistant fire chief with West Vancouver Fire and Rescue.
Once they had determined that no one was in the home, firefighters sized up the scope of the fire and determined it was too far gone to risk sending anyone inside.
"We continued on a defensive stance for a number of hours. We had the fire under control quite quickly - within the hour, and then it was mostly hotspots, which continued all night," Ernst added.
While it appears the fire was concentrated in the deck area of the west side of the house, what remains of the building will have to be brought down before investigators can get close enough to pinpoint a cause.
"We now are in a situation where the house is unsound structurally so we are going to bring in some heavy machinery so that we can take part of it down to do the investigation," Ernst said.
A West Vancouver waterfront home on Copper Cove Road is completely engulfed in flames as firefighters work to control the fire Sunday night. Nobody was in the home at the time.
Photograph by: photo Duncan Shields , North Shore NEWS
