NEAR PENTICTON — A partially built home was completely destroyed in an early morning fire in Penticton on Sunday.
The Penticton Fire Department was called to Carmi Avenue and Saliken Drive around 5 a.m.
“By the time I got on scene, the house was already completely burned up and there was just a bit of a shell there and within 30 minutes it already started to collapse on itself,” says Deputy Fire Chief Dave Spalding.
Spalding says the fire was called in by a neighbour, but all of the properties in that area are so spread out that by the time the neighbour noticed the flames, the structure was already fully engulfed.
“The house is vacant, it’s under construction, there was no life safety issue,” says Spalding.
The area is outside of the boundary that the fire department serves so forestry crews were called and a three person initial attack crew attended to the scene to ensure the fire didn’t spread.
Spalding says some of the burning embers started to light up a bit and some of the burning materials started rolling down a nearby ravine along Ellis Creek.
“It was just field grass, no heavy trees or pine trees,” says Spalding.
“Dead trees, probably left over from the Garnet fire or something like that.”
No word on what may have caused the fire.
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