No people were hurt during a structure fire in Mission on Tuesday, but several reptiles perished in the blaze.
Mission Fire Rescue Services were called out to a structure fire on Tuesday (April 12) on Wilkinson Street, off Stave Lake Street.
When crews arrived, at about 2:20 p.m. they found a building ablaze with billowing smoke and visible flames.
“We responded to a report of a fire on a deck that spread to the house,” explained Assistant Fire Chief Ian Glasgow.
He said the fire took place in a two storey portion of the building, separated from the rest of the house by a covered walkway.
Firefighters were able to quickly contain the fire to the two storey portion.
“The remainder of the house is unaffected, besides smoke damage,” said Glasgow.
While no people were injured, Glasgow said the home owner had a reptile business and unfortunately a number of snakes perished in the fire.
“He was able to recover a couple but there were some casualties.”
About 25 firefighters, from all three Mission halls, were on scene for about eight hours.
A steady water supply was unavailable in the area so a water shuttle operation took place using tenders – large tanker trucks containing water – including one called in from the Maple Ridge Fire Department.
While the blaze was mostly contained, there were some hot spots in the roof that firefighters had difficulty getting to.
“We used an excavator to demolish the burned portion of the structure to help control extinguishing the blaze,” said Glasgow.
The fire is not considered suspicious.