Smoking likely to blame for Kelowna condo fire

It looks like a destructive fire that displaced dozens of residents at a Kelowna condo complex was started by smoking material.

“I believe they found the remnants of a lighting device,” Kelowna Fire Department platoon captain Tim Light told Global News.

The fire broke at the Guisachan Village condo complex off of Gordon Drive last Wednesday, just before 1 a.m.

The building was deemed unsafe for fear it may collapse, preventing investigators from going inside.

But on Monday, after the structure was shored up this past weekend, investigators were finally given the green light to go in

After having a look inside the unit where the fire started and interviewing one of the occupants, investigators announced the fire was likely accidentally started by a lighter.

“He basically said he was going out onto the deck to have a cigarette or have a smoke and that after lighting his cigarette with his lighting device, he threw it back in and it landed on his sleeping bag on his bed,” Light said.

Two units were destroyed, and four others were badly damaged.