Vernon family has a lucky escape when a neighbour discovers their house is on fire | iNFOnews | Thompson-Okanagan's News Source
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Vernon News

Vernon family has a lucky escape when a neighbour discovers their house is on fire

Brandon Colvin with his two young children. The family had quite the scare early Tuesday morning.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Facebook

VERNON - Brandon Colvin awoke at 6 a.m. yesterday to the sound of someone furiously banging on his back door. Jumping out of bed to the sound of yelling and screaming coming from outside his home, the Mountridge Road resident rushed outside to find his house on fire.

As 10-foot flames blazed up the side of his property, Colvin's wife Sharmayne Colvin grabbed their two young children and rushed outside along with her parents who had been sleeping downstairs, as Brandon used the garden hose to douse the flames with water. A frantic call to 911 was made as the fire started to reach the second floor of the Colvin's home.

"I didn't even know what to think," Brandon says. "I just wanted to get that fire out."

Luckily, by the time the BX-Swan Lake Fire Rescue showed up shortly afterwards, the flames had largely been extinguished. But among all the adrenalin and panic, the Colvins realized the good Samaritan who had alerted them to the fire was nowhere to be seen. Her presence was even more important, he said, because new smoke alarms installed in the house didn't work. 

"I felt pretty terrible because I really wanted to thank her... she's definitely a hero as far as I'm concerned," Brandon said. "If it wasn't for her it could have been much worse, I couldn't thank her enough."

With the fire damage restricted to just one wall of the house and several kitchen cabinets, the family was back in their home that day, curious as to who the guardian angel was who alerted them to what could have been a far more serious event.

Sharmayne Colvin got up at 6 a.m. today, July 18, and sat on the patio hoping to catch the stranger on her morning walk - and luckily she walked past.

"She claimed it was just a fluke [that she'd spotted the fire] and my wife said 'no, you're a lifesaver. My family owes you for our lives.'"

The woman is a neighbour who lives just a few doors away but wouldn't take any credit for her actions and has chosen to remain anonymous not wanting any public praise or attention.

Colvin said he knows how it feels to be truly grateful for something.

"We got lucky, just because that lady caught it that early and if that wasn't the case we could have lost more than just some cabinets in the kitchen."


To contact a reporter for this story, email Ben Bulmer or call (250) 718-0428 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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