The 1100 block of Pottery Road is closed to the public while fire and police investigators scour the scene of a large barn fire.
(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)
July 31, 2014 - 6:55 AM
VERNON - Firefighters and police remain at the scene of a large barn fire that broke out early Thursday morning.
Neighbours in the 1100 block of Pottery Road alerted authorities to the large fire around 4:30 a.m.
Resident Serena Gosselin awoke when she heard yelling out on the street.
“We came outside to look, and what we found across the street was huge flames and black smoke,” Gosselin says.
The barn, and bales of hay within it, were burnt to the ground. Firefighters stopped the fire from spreading to a grassy field surrounding the barn.
“We had chunks of burning aluminum, chunks of charcoal and ash on all our vehicles, our yard and probably our roof,” Gosselin says. “It’s very dry out, anything else catching fire, it wouldn’t take much at all.”
Vernon firefighters continue to monitor hot spots and investigators are on scene determining what caused the blaze.
RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says it’s too early to say if the fire is suspicious in nature. There have been over 20 suspected arsons in the Vernon area recently, leaving residents on edge.
The fire wasn't far from other structures in the area.
Image Credit: InfoNews
Crews were dispatched around 4:30 a.m. Thursday.
Image Credit: InfoNews
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
—This story was edited at 7:15 a.m. July 31 to add information from Gord Molendyk and again at 11 a.m. to add comments from Serena Gosselin.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014