An explosion in a home’s garage is the suspected cause of a fire at a Nanaimo home on Thursday afternoon, though the official cause is still undetermined.
Nanaimo Fire Rescue was called to the house fire at 25 Newcastle Ave. shortly after noon.
Five fire engines responded, according to Assistant Fire Chief Troy Libbus, with the first truck finding “heavy smoke coming from the soffits and front door and out the back” when it arrived.
Once fire crews confirmed no one was inside the building, they took up a defensive stance around the house because it was unclear where the fire was coming from.
“We just had a lot of smoke, and we had reports that no one was inside, so we went defensive,” said Libbus.
The assistant fire chief says the flames were difficult to douse at first, since the home was “sealed up tight” and there was no obvious source of the fire.
Firefighters had to use chainsaws to remove sections of the house to see where the smoke was coming from.
“No one was inside at the time, but it sounds like the fire started down below. What I do know is that it did go up the walls in the front of the building and up into the attic space,” said Libbus.
“When fires get up into the attic space we have a bit of an issue, because [of] it’s access.”
Fire crews worked to shoot water over the roof and soffits of the home, and eventually were able to tackle the flames directly through the holes made by the fire itself.
“There’s a lot of damage to the house right now. As you can see there’s going to be fire damage, smoke damage,” said Libbus.
Landscaper heard ‘explosion’
A landscaper at the property told firefighters he heard a pop before the smoke appeared, and quickly called 911.
“In the background you can see there’s a garage door that’s shifted quite a bit. It came in as an explosion,” said Libbus.
However, the assistant fire chief notes that crews are still watering down the scene, and that it’s not clear yet what caused the fire.
“Once it can be safe to go in we can determine the cause of the fire,” he told CHEK News.
“Right now, the best part is everyone was out, somebody called 911…everyone’s done a great job,” he said.
He added that commuters should expect delays in the area.
With files from CHEK’s Kendall Hanson
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