KELOWNA – A home in Kelowna’s downtown area has been badly damaged in an overnight fire.
A 9-1-1 call reporting smoke brought the fire department to the Abbott Street home just before midnight Wednesday.
The back deck was ablaze with flames spreading up the wall and into the roof.
The suspected cause is an electrical fault.
“There was a set of deck lights that were wired into transformer and perhaps the transformer overheated,” says fire inspector Russ Van de Sype. “I think there was a cat box underneath there and perhaps that was one of the first things to ignite when things overheated. The fact it has cedar shakes on the side just added fuel to the fire and things went up into the attic in a big hurry.”
Sawdust insulation in the walls also helped feed the flames.
The rental house was vacant as the tenants had recently moved out.
Van de Sype is urging people with strings of patio or Halloween lights to make sure they’re safety approved by the Canadian Standards Association.
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