UPDATE
A firefighter was sent to hospital on Friday following a ‘dirty fire’ in Kelowna’s Pandosy district.
The fire at Pope’s on Pandosy, a two-storey building, was sparked by roofers’ torches just before noon, according to the Kelowna Fire Department. Smoke poured out of the grey building as firefighters scrambled to battle the blaze.
At one point during the fire, a section of siding from the second storey was blown off. A firefighter was hurt because of debris from the explosion. The debris hit the firefighter in the chest and shoulders.
WATCH BELOW: Interview with Kelowna Fire Department platoon captain Tim Light.
Regarding the injured firefighter, Light said “there was one small, what we would call a smoke explosion. It sent one of our members to the hospital. I believe he’s in satisfactory condition right now.”
One person was inside the building when the fire started. Light said that person evacuated when smoke started entering the apartment.
The fire department responded to the blaze with five engines, a ladder truck, a rescue truck and 26 personnel.
The building sustained fire, smoke and water damage. Light said the fire was contained to the ceiling and walls, though fire crews had to pull ceilings down because the building has sawdust insulation.
“It’s what we would call a dirty fire,” said Light. “Lots of smoke, not a lot of flame until you start opening up the walls. And once the air gets to it, it tends to be quite a violent reaction.”
Light adds sawdust insulation is commonplace in older buildings, especially along Kelowna’s north end.
“It’s just one of the factors we deal with,” said Light. “You chase it a lot. With these older war-time buildings, sometimes there’s been renovations where there’s two or three ceilings in it and the fire can travel in between the ceilings.
“So that’s why we have to expose everything.”
ORIGINAL STORY
Emergency crews in Kelowna are investigating reports of a fire inside a building on Pandosy Street.
Smoke could be seen wafting out of a second-floor window.
A section of an exterior wall on the second floor was blown off in the fire.
A firefighter was sent to hospital. The firefighter’s health isn’t known.
Traffic is closed on Pandosy Street between Raymer Road and KLO Road.
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