Abbotsford, B.C.: House Fire Started With Explosion

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Ottawa Citizen

Sunday December 17, 2000 Five people die in house fire that started with explosion in Abbotsford, B.C.

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. (CP) - Five people have died in a house fire that witnesses say started with an explosion shortly before 8 a.m. Sunday.

A child and two adults died in hospital, where another victim remains in stable condition, said Lieut. Charlene Jordan-Jones of the Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service. Two female adults and a 12-year-old female escaped the blaze by smashing a window on the second floor of the home, Jordan-Jones said. One woman sustained a broken arm. Jordan-Jones said nine of the 10 people in the home were members of an extended family.

A male tenant in the basement suite managed to flee the flames.

Six fire trucks were dispatched to the inferno that has caused fire fighters considerable stress, Jordan-Jones said.

"We've been having a debriefing with some counsellors from a critical incidents stress management team to help the firefighters do a debriefing of the incident and just deal with the stress involved."

Investigators from B.C. Gas are conducting a probe to determine what caused the explosion in the community about 50 kilometres east of Vancouver.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), December 17, 2000


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