Child, mother, grandfather killed in East Vancouver house fire

Members of three generations of a Vancouver family, including a child, are dead following a two-alarm fire in East Vancouver on Sunday.

Vancouver fire chief Karen Fry said two others were injured in the tragedy.

The victims, Fry said, were a child younger than 10, their mother and their grandfather.

“Extensive and intense efforts by our crews to resuscitate were unsuccessful,” Fry said.

All three were pronounced dead at the scene, Fry said.

The child’s grandmother suffered smoke inhalation while their father suffered “extensive burns,” Fry said. Both were in hospital.

Firefighters were called to the home near East 41st Avenue and Earls Street around 7:30 a.m., and arrived to find the basement suite fully involved.

Firefighters were initially forced to attack the fire from the outside, but were then able to move inside the building.

Police and multiple ambulances were called to the scene, and blocked off 41st Avenue between Rupert Street and Victoria Drive.

“It appears the basement was the location of the fire’s start, but as to what started it we’re still investigating that,” Fry said, adding that early information suggests the fire was not suspicious.

It was also still unclear whether the home had working smoke alarms, Fry said.

Crews were able to extinguish the flames before they spread to nearby buildings.

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