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Two dogs rescued from house fire in Nanaimo

Two-storey rental house in the hospital district was home to nine people and their pets

Tenants and their pets are displaced from their rental home after it caught fire this morning.

Nanaimo Fire Rescue responded at about 10:20 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2, upon receiving multiple calls about black smoke coming from a house at the corner of Boundary Avenue and Cardinal Way.

Stu Kenning, Nanaimo Fire Rescue assistant chief, said firefighters arrived on scene to find smoke and flame coming from the front of the structure.

“Our crews moved quickly to knock it down quite fast,” Kenning said. “They did rescue two dogs, that were unharmed, from the fire and they’ve been put with someone to look after them.”

Kenning said nine people were living in the two suites of the house. No one was home when the fire broke out and no one was injured.

Nanaimo Fire Rescue units from the city’s four fire halls, Nanaimo RCMP and B.C. Ambulance crews responded to the scene.

It took firefighters almost an hour to knock down the fire and fully snuff it out.

The blaze appears to have started in the basement suite, Kenning said, and there was smoke damage to the upstairs of the home. The cause of the fire had not been determined and is under investigation. The assistant chief did not know if the tenants had insurance.

He said the two small dogs were rescued from the upstairs of the house where there was no fire.

The dogs were unharmed but stressed by the fire and activities of the firefighters. One ran from firefighters, but stuck close to the house where it was caught and bit at firefighters’ fingers. Both dogs were handed over to a police officer who put them in the back seat of her police vehicle for temporary safe keeping.

“I think they were a little yappy and a little bit bitey,” Kenning said.

READ ALSO: Tim Hortons location in Nanaimo set on fire



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Chris Bush

About the Author: Chris Bush

As a photographer/reporter with the Nanaimo News Bulletin since 1998.
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