A home in an affordable housing complex in Kelowna, B.C., was seriously damaged by fire Friday afternoon.
The fire was reported before 1 p.m. and by the time fire crews arrived, flames were shooting from an upstairs window, firefighters at the scene confirmed.
Within the hour the blaze was under control, though the upper floor appeared uninhabitable.
Bryant Delaney lives in the complex and saw smoke coming out of the seam of a roof in the unit, so he called 911 immediately.
Then he helped a woman and her children who lived in an adjacent unit get themselves and their vehicle out of the area.
“It was getting a little bit worrisome but luckily there was no active flame I could see until the police were here,” he said.
“Luckily it didn’t seem like any other units were damaged and it didn’t spread very far.”
Shawn Wundrich, assistant chief of the Kelowna Fire Department, confirmed that the damage was isolated to one unit, with only room and its contents being destroyed.
He added that nobody was in the unit when fire crews arrived and the cause is under investigation.
Wudrich and the fire could have been much worse due to the fact that the heat was above 30 C in Kelowna Friday afternoon.
Delaney, a longtime resident, said that in the last 10 to 15 years, there have been at least four fires in the neighbourhood, all caused by different things. Luckily, the damage has always been minimal, he said.
Columbus Gardens is run by the Columbian Centennial Housing Society
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