A North Vancouver man has been sent to hospital and a home is in ruins after a barbecue fire apparently got out of control Thursday evening and tore through much of the house.
The Norwood Avenue resident was barbecuing on the deck at about 7: 45 p.m. when the propane appliance reportedly erupted into flame, burning him on the hands and face and quickly setting light to the front of the cedar post-and-beam home. By the time firefighters arrived, the blaze was out of control.
"The whole front of the home was fully engulfed along with some of the trees," said District of North Vancouver assistant fire chief Jim Bonneville, speaking from the scene Friday. "(The first crew in) said there was a 50-or 60-foot column of flame."
Firefighters attacked the blaze from two sides, taking about an hour to get it contained, he said. They stayed on scene all night working to extinguish it fully, and were still at the site the following morning dealing with hot spots.
The injured man was rushed to hospital immediately after the mishap. His condition is unknown.
The other five occupants of the house got out safely, according to firefighters.
The column of flame and smoke attracted spectators from all over the North Shore, tying up traffic in the area
The home was a teardown, said Bonneville.
"The bottom floor is intact . . . but the water damage is beyond (repair)," he said. "Everything above that is either collapsed or completely burned out."
Investigators were combing over the property Friday in an effort to confirm the cause of the mishap.
