10 people displaced by Boxing Day blaze in Vernon

A Vernon man was rushed to hospital after being found unresponsive outside the door of his suite which was on fire Monday evening.

The blaze broke out at around 5:20 p.m. in a home with six rental suites inside in the 3700-block of 30th Avenue.

The unresponsive resident was taken to Vernon Jubilee Hospital for treatment and released later that night. The fire chief said the man was suffering from smoke inhalation, but couldn’t say if that was why he collapsed outside his apartment.

Read More: False alarm, wake up call for West Kelowna family

The fire caused significant damage to one of the six suites in the home.

Firefighters said the suite was “completely gutted” and other suites likely suffered smoke damage.

Ten tenants, including two children, were displaced by the fire. They stayed at a local hotel or with family on Monday night.

Tenant alerted by smell

Shailyn Becker, who lives in one of the suites in the home, said the smell of burning plastic was the first sign of trouble.

After calling 911, she and others searched for the source of the smell. They found a neighbour who lived in the suite next door unresponsive on the steps.

“[He was] passed out with a scarf over his face and wouldn’t wake up and was naked wrapped up in a blanket. [He] wouldn’t wake up, wouldn’t respond to us,” said Becker.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "[He was] passed out with a scarf over his face and wouldn't wake up and was naked wrapped up in a blanket. [He] wouldn't wake up, wouldn't respond to us," said Becker.

Becker said another tenant opened the door to the unresponsive man’s suite and discovered it was on fire. She said the flames came towards them when the door was opened.

Fire crews arrived and made short work of the flames.

No one heard fire alarms

The fire chief said there are fire alarms in the building but none of the tenants said they heard one sound during the fire.

“We haven’t verified if they were working smoke alarms, but it appears that they did not activate during the fire,” said interim fire chief David Lind.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We haven't verified if they were working smoke alarms, but it appears that they did not activate during the fire," said interim fire chief David Lind.

The property manager said sometimes tenants disable fire alarms.

Investigators will be looking into why no one heard an alarm sound during this fire.

Read More: Startling smoke alarm survey results

“We have a smoke alarm in our place and we just put a new one out in the foyer,” said Becker. “Nothing went off. We could just smell burning plastic.”

The cause of the fire is also under investigation.

Fire officials said they are not ruling anything out, but do not believe the fire is suspicious.