Firefighters are investigating the cause of a fire that ripped through a Saanich home, killing a beloved family dog.
“I heard a couple of loud bangs and ran down the stairs and the furnace room was on fire,” said Ken Gowlett, who lives in the split-level house with Debbie McMillan.
Fire crews were called to the home at 3319 Shelbourne St. at 11:56 p.m Friday.
“I’m telling you it was quick,” Gowlett said. “There was smoke and lots of flames. I got a bucket of water from the sink, but it was way too late. I had to get out of there.”
Gowlett ran outside the basement door and up to the kitchen, where a disoriented McMillan was fumbling through heavy smoke.
He shone a flashlight on the exit to guide her out and then, realizing the dog was trapped in a bedroom, tried to re-enter, said Saanich assistant chief fire inspector Rich Pala.
The two occupants, in the home more than a decade, escaped unharmed but are left with nothing. McMillan, who is fighting cancer, left behind expensive chemotherapy drugs.
“The house is totally destroyed and everything in it,” Gowlett said. “It’s a shell.”
Damage is estimated at $300,000.
The biggest loss is a 15-year-old female dog, named Rippy because she liked to rip things apart. Fire crews tried to resuscitate the dog, but were unsuccessful, said battalion chief Gary Stark.
“We got out of there with our pyjamas and that’s it,” Gowlett said. “That stuff can be replaced, a pet can’t be.”
It was the second major fire in Greater Victoria on Friday. A fire at an Empire Street home caused an estimated $160,000 in damage and sent one woman to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation.
The Shelbourne Street home is owned by a Victoria family registered under the company name Akela, said property manager Brian B. Lawless.
The family owns several residential rental properties on Shelbourne Street, Lawless said.
On Saturday, fire investigators were retracing the fire’s path back to the basement room that housed the furnace, said Saanich battalion chief Joe Zsidi. A furnace technician will assist.
Fire investigators were also trying to determine how long the fire was burning before it reached the second floor, Pala said.
It’s not clear whether the home had working smoke detectors.
Lawless said there were battery-operated smoke alarms on each floor, but Pala said inspectors hadn’t yet found any.
“At the moment, we have found no smoke detectors,” Pala said. “And I believe the occupants said they didn’t have smoke detectors in here.”
