A house fire broke out in the 400 block of East Seventh Street in North Vancouver in the early hours of Saturday morning, sending six people who lived in the home running for their lives.
No injuries were reported, but two people were sent to Lions Gate Hospital for observation due to minor smoke inhalation.
Next-door neighbour Lisa Brown said she was woken from a restless sleep around 4 a.m. when she heard a bang and saw an orange glow outside.
“It was terrifying waking up with that orange glow in the background and not knowing what it was,” she said.
She woke up her husband and two children and the family quickly went outside.
When she got there, she saw the house next door was on fire.
“There were flames shooting up out of the roof,” she said.
Firefighters and police were already on the scene.
Brown said several people rented in the home. All of those people made it out safely, said City of North Vancouver fire Chief Dan Pistilli.
Pistilli said one of the men who lived in the house woke up when he heard crackling sounds of the fire outside the window, and quickly got the others up and out of the house.
Smoke alarms in the home did go off, he added, although smoke from the fire had not reached the detectors before residents got out of the house.
When firefighters arrived, “There was heavy fire in the rear of the residence,” said Pistilli. Fire had spread from the basement level up into the main floor of the house and into the roof space, he said.
More than 30 firefighters from both city and district fire departments responded to the fire.
Brown said the home was extensively damaged. “There’s charred wood all over the place.”
Pistilli said smoke and water damage throughout the 16-year-old home could easily top $250,000.
Both the fire department and insurance company are currently investigating the cause of the fire. Pistilli said that’s undetermined at this point, although the fire appears to have started outside, under a deck where a sofa and table were set up.
Emergency social services were on the scene Saturday helping the residents who had been left homeless by the blaze with vouchers to help them buy immediate necessities. Those residents all went to stay with family or friends, said Pistilli.
