A garage fire in Sidney was made even more challenging when first responders realized a large amount of ammunition was going off inside the burning structure.
Firefighters were called to a property on James White Boulevard in Sidney Tuesday afternoon and arrived to find the detached garage fully engulfed by flames.
As they battled back the blaze, crews head several popping noises coming from the structure. At first they were indistinguishable to typical fire noises, but it soon became apparent that the pops were actually live ammunition exploding, according to Sidney Fire Chief Brett Mikkelson.
Crews noticed several bullet casings on the ground near their vehicles, leading them to realize there was a "considerable amount" of ammunition inside the burning garage, according to Mikkelson.
"In the ideal world, we'd identify the risk was there prior to us engaging the fire but that wasn't the case," he said.
Firefighters used a deluge water gun to make short work of the flames, and knocked down the blaze within about 10 minutes before it could spread to the nearby home.
Mikkelson said once the fire was extinguished, investigators found everything from shotgun shells to long rifle ammunition in the shed.
He said while exploding ammo doesn't have the same velocity or risk as ammo fired from a gun, crews were still risking their safety to put the fire out.
"We were just very fortunate no one got hurt," he said.
The blaze would have likely spread if crews didn't arrive as fast as they did. Mikkelson credited a new automatic mutual aid agreement with Central and North Saanich for lowering the response time to a mere four minutes.
One person was evacuated from the home on the property but no one suffered any injuries.
The garage is considered a total loss. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but fire officials suspect it may be linked to an electrical issue.
