The Grand Forks fire department is still investigating the cause of Wednesday’s fire that destroyed a Quonset hut and an old bus.
Deputy chief Rich Piché said they were called just before 11 a.m. to 3600 Almond Gardens Road West road. He was the first to arrive and found the hut fully involved, burning about 10 feet away from a house.
The fire spread to an old school bus parked nearby. Firefighters put out both while keeping the house and another nearby shop cool.
The property owners, who lived in the shop, were home at the time. Their tenants lived in the house next to the Quonset. Four children at home saw the fire, notified the landlord, who called 911.
“Right as I arrived there was a baby still inside the house and I allowed the dad to run in and grab the baby and everybody was out safe at that point,” Piché said.
One of the windows on the house blew out from the heat and some plastic moulding around the windows was also damaged, but the house had stucco siding and did not ignite.
The bus had been converted to sell fish but since repurposed as a music studio. The instruments inside were lost, along with everything in the Quonset. But the owner’s other bus, which is still used to sell fish, was out on the road at the time.
Piché was back on the scene this morning as part of the investigation. He says he expects to reach a conclusion on the cause by the end of the day, but it is not considered suspicious.
He said firefighters were on the scene for a couple of hours and had help from BC Ambulance and RCMP, but nobody was hurt.
The Christina Lake and Greenwood fire departments also helped out with their tenders.