A North Vancouver mom and her two kids had to temporarily move out of their duplex on West Keith Road after embers from a chimney set fire to the roof Sunday afternoon.
Calls came in about a chimney fire at 432 West Keith Rd. around noon, said Dan Pistilli, fire chief of North Vancouver City Fire Department. But before the fire trucks even left the station, that was upgraded to a roof fire. By the time fire crews arrived on the scene “there were flames visible next to the chimney area on the roof,” said Pistilli.
Tenants in all four units, which included the building owner and occupants of two basement suites, had all evacuated by the time fire crews arrived.
Crews fought the fire from outside the building then pulled down the ceiling in the living room of one unit to make sure lingering hot spots were out.
Luckily the family whose suite was most damaged had tenants’ insurance, said Pistilli.
The fire chief said the fire apparently started when the woman who lived in the suite was burning some paper in the fireplace. Hot embers came out of the chimney and caught the wood shake roof on fire, he said.
Pistilli said with cooler fall evenings around the corner it’s a good reminder to residents to get chimneys properly cleaned before starting to use them.
