Hope firefighters were kept busy on the weekend with two house fires and a wildfire to manage, among other calls and demands on time.
A house was destroyed on Willow Street at about 3 a.m. on Sunday, and another home was destroyed in a mobile park in Silver Creek.
Then on Sunday afternoon, a fire lit up along the banks of the Fraser River. That fire was attacked by a water-bombing helicopter.
Hope Fire Chief Tom DeSorcy said some of the calls they dealt with over the weekend happened at the same time.
“In particular we attended to a report of a house fire in the 500 block of Willow St. early on Sunday morning (2:50 a.m.),” he explained. “Upon arrival our crews were faced with a single-family residence fully involved in fire and threatening a neighbouring home.”
The department called in mutual aid support from the Yale and District Volunteer Fire Dept., and were able to keep the fire from spreading. However, there was extensive damage to the home next door from heat, water and smoke.
“Shortly after we arrived at this event, we were called to attend a second structure fire involving a mobile home on Old Yale Road in Silver Creek (3:20 a.m.),” he said. “The Popkum Volunteer Fire Dept. were called in and responded to that one on our behalf.”
The Willow Street house fire is now being considered suspicious and has been turned over to insurance investigators.
DeSorcy says that if any members of the public have any video or dash cam footage, or have seen suspicious activity in the early hours of Sunday morning in that area, to contact the Hope RCMP.
The cause of the fire in Silver Creek has not been established.
Then on Sunday at 5:23 p.m. the fire crew was called to a report of smoke seen near the 170 westbound on-ramp for Hwy. 1.
“Upon arrival we found a brush fire near the river,” he said. “Our response partners at the BC Wildfire Service (BCWS) also attended and brought in air support for quick suppression. The fire was in steep terrain and hard to access. It is believed to be human caused.”
But it wasn’t just fires they were called to.
“In what has become the norm of late, we had subsequent incidents take place at the same time as we also responded to a medical call to assist BC Emergency Health Services (BCEHS), and while we were on scene at the wildfire, a motorist stopped and asked us to attend to their pet who was in medical distress,” DeSorcy said.
Other calls over the weekend included a motor vehicle incident and residential fire alarm.
The crew has also been helping out with the Apex fire, sending rotations of firefighters every few days.
READ MORE: 4-hectare wildfire north of Mission suspected to be human-caused
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