Seven people are out of their homes following a townhouse fire in North Vancouver Thursday night.
The first 911 calls came in just before 11 p.m. from the Canyon Way Manor on the 1500 block of Woods Drive. When crews arrived they found heavy flames and smoke coming from the front door.
“The decision was made to make a quick attack and go in with an offensive strategy,” said assistant fire chief Jeremy Duncan. “They were able to quickly knock down the fire and from there, they continued to do a primary search to see if there was anybody in the building.”
The two residents of the burnt out unit, a mother and baby, got out without injury. The suite itself though was heavily damaged. Three of the units in the complex had to be evacuated due to smoke. The North Shore Emergency Management Office put up all three families in a hotel for the night.
The property management firm has hired a restoration specialist to determine whether the apartments damaged in the 1968 complex are salvageable. Duncan could not say whether the burned out family has renters’ insurance.
There is no word on the cause, Duncan said, or where the point of origin for the fire was.
Duncan said he was proud of how his crew handled the blaze, stopping it from spreading and saving some photo albums from the fire.
“The firefighters’ training definitely kicked in and the first-in unit made some very good, smart decisions to be able to minimize the impact on an already horrific day for people. They were definitely able to stop the loss to that unit,” he said. “Not only did the put the fire out – and quickly so it wouldn’t spread to another unit, but they then took action to do whatever they could to get some of the personal items and effects that are irreplaceable out of the unit and protected.”
