Fast-moving fire destroys workshop, recreational vehicles in Lantzville
Investigators are looking into the cause of a blaze that destroyed a workshop as well as two recreational vehicles in Lantzville early Wednesday morning.
According to Fire Chief Neil Rukus, crews were called to the Southwind Drive home at 2:47 a.m. and found the shop couldn't be saved.
"We arrived on scene to find an approximately 20-by-30 (foot) workshop fully involved, fire through the roof,” Rukus says. “It had spread to two recreational vehicles and was spreading to the neighbour's shop and also starting to scorch onto the carriage home next door.”
He says the occupants of the home – as well as the neighbouring property, which also includes a carriage home – were all safely out of their structures.
Neighbour Julie Steward was shocked at how fast the fire was spreading.
"I smelled the smoke and then I did hear a bang,” Steward says. “This is a residential area with a lot of retired and older people. I thought it was unusual how strong it was at three o'clock in the morning."
Steward says she heard more bangs and then could see flames from her house. She immediately became concerned for her father, who was living in the carriage home near the flames.
"My neighbour's backyard was engulfed,” she says. “(I) made sure all the pets were in one room, made sure my dad was out of the cottage and made sure my neighbours were OK.”
Rukus says this fire was the first test of a new mutual-aid agreement between the Lantzville, Wellington and Nanoose fire departments. Their biggest challenge was the lack of water in the area.
"This particular area is completely un-hydranted, so we have to rely on water-tender shuttles, along with our partners and our automatic aid agreement,” he says.
Steward says her neighbours were happy nobody was injured in the fire, but they lost a significant number of items in the blaze.
"Their main water cistern and their pump, everything that they had was there,” she says. “There was motorcycles, there was RVs; it was the husband's workshop."
Steward will be contacting Lantzville's mayor to see if something can be done to bring hydrants to the area.
"A month ago, if this would have happened, these would have been like matchsticks going up,” she says. “What I witnessed and how fast a workshop went down, yeah, it was pretty scary."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING NEWS Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'