Fire at Selma Park house

Sechelt fire quickly extinguished

A house on Hwy 101 near Sechelt had to be evacuated
when it caught fire Saturday morning. The resident
escaped with minor injuries and Sechelt Fire Department
extinguished the blaze within a short time of
their arriving. Photo Apryl Veld

Sechelt Fire Department were called out to a fire in a two-storey wood framed home near Sechelt on Saturday morning.

“We got the page and arrived within four to five minutes of receiving the 911 call,” Assistant Fire Chief, Trevor Pike said.

Crews arrived to find heavy black smoke and flames coming from the older home a few minutes east of town. The fire was described as aggressive, and confined mostly to the back and second floor of the home.

“Within five minutes we had it under control and it was extinguished within 25 minutes of our arrival,” Pike added.

He noted the Selma Park resident, who was the only one home at the time of the fire, was a 97-year-old woman who left after trying to extinguish the blaze on her own. The woman was helped by a neighbour to call the fire department, and then taken to St. Mary’s Hospital with minor smoke inhalation.

Pike said that the fire appears to have started in the living room near the fireplace, and was not deemed to be suspicious.

The structure is boarded up, and the fire department and insurance company is still investigating. He added that their fire crew reported no injuries to themselves, and that a home next door to the 1950’s house suffered only some minor damage.

A neighbour of the homeowner said she was concerned for the elderly woman, who would be without a home when she is released from hospital.

“She’ll need some place to hang her hat until her home is fixed,” Jennifer Birch said.

Apryl Veld