Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
November 21, 2014 - 10:05 AM
LUMBY - A Lumby senior was fast asleep when smoke and flames started spreading through his house. Luckily, his smoke detector woke him up and he managed to flee the building.
Lumby Fire Chief Tony Clayton says the man was taken to Vernon Jubilee Hospital to be checked out for smoke inhalation.
“The smoke alarm basically saved his life,” Clayton says.
When the man awoke, the fire was already migrating through the house and smoke was thick. If not for the alarm, the incident could have ended differently.
The fire department responded around 6:30 a.m. Nov. 21 to the burning residence, located on Cedar Ridge Street. A crew of ten firefighters knocked the fire down before it consumed the house. The building sustained extensive smoke damage.
Investigators believe the fire started in an attached garage and have deemed the cause electrical in nature.
Clayton says the close call is a good reminder of the importance of smoke alarms.
“In this case, it definitely worked,” he says.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014