Abbotsford, B.C.: House Fire Started With Explosiongreenspun.com : LUSENET : Grassroots Information Coordination Center (GICC) : One Thread |
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