![Saanich Fire Battalion Chief Randy Law: ÒIt was large enough to a point where it wasn't just one area [affected] so we'll have to do some investigating.Ó](https://www.vmcdn.ca/f/files/glaciermedia/import/lmp-all/647603-VKA-OldEastRdFire05973.jpg;w=960;h=640;bgcolor=000000)
A Saanich couple havelost five pets and most of their possessions in a fire.
An off-duty Saanich firefighter spotted smoke and flames coming from a two-storey home at 6010 Old East Rd. around 1 p.m. The off-duty firefighter checked to make sure no one was in the house as Saanich Fire rushed to the scene.
“When we got here [the fire] was going pretty good,” said battalion chief Randy Law. About 18 firefighters battled the fire from the outside.
Jerry Yates, who is engaged to the homeowner, Jessica Leghorn, said he was running errands and returned to find the home on fire.
The couple, both 73, lost their two cats, Eddie and Molly, two dogs, Rudy and Emma, and a parrot named Cheeky. Yates suspects most of Leghorn’s furniture and clothes were damaged in the blaze. Yates has been living in the home since December, after the two got engaged.
“It’s devastating for all of us,” Yates said.
Leghorn, who has lived in the home for 20 years, is in hospital recovering from surgery. Her daughter is going to deliver the news.
Fire investigators are at the scene trying to determine what caused the blaze.
There is heavy fire damage to the basement and the main floor. The fire department does not yet have a damage estimate.
“It was large enough to a point where it wasn't just one area [affected] so we'll have to do some investigating,” Law said.
