West Vancouver fire investigators are still looking for clues as to why a three-storey home on Ansell Place went up in flames early Monday morning, sending one man to hospital.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze after a neighbour in the 8500-block of Ansell Place woke up just before 1 a.m. and heard noises outside.
“She looked out her window and saw flames in the neighbours’ home,” said West Vancouver Fire Chief Martin Ernst.
Three fire trucks raced from the Gleneagles fire station to the scene north of Horseshoe Bay, arriving in about four minutes.
When fire crews arrived, big flames were already coming through the roof and out of the windows, said Ernst.
Luckily the homeowner, a man in his 60s who had been alone in the house when the fire broke out, had made it out without serious harm.
He was taken to hospital suffering from possible smoke inhalation.
West Vancouver crews called in three more fire trucks as backup from North Vancouver to attack the blaze, which went on for about four hours.
Eventually firefighters shifted their focus to preventing damage to neighbouring homes.
Ernst said the home suffered severe structural damage in the blaze.
So far, investigators haven’t been able to determine whether the home had smoke alarms.
Ernst said based on witness reports, investigators suspect the fire may have been started by electrical causes on the side of the home facing the water.
“We don’t think it’s a suspicious fire,” he said.
The home on Ansell Place is near the northern boundary of
the municipality.
Water to fight the fire was drawn from municipal reservoirs, said Ernst. He added that when firefighters are on a call, municipal staff can monitor water use and turn on extra supplies to boost water volume or pressure if needed.
That situation is in marked contrast to a garage fire that broke out farther north at Strachan Point in January. Homeowners there are outside the municipal boundaries and rely on their own water supply, which ran dry during the most recent fire, necessitating a fireboat to come from Vancouver to help with the blaze.
Ernst said homes that lie outside of regular fire protection zones generally have to pay higher insurance premiums — if they can even get insurance.
