A Vancouver Island community is rallying around the survivors of a destructive house fire that claimed three lives on Monday.
Firefighters were called to the home in the 1600 block of Maple Bay Road in North Cowichan, B.C., around 9:30 a.m. The flames were so intense that support had to be called in from crews in three nearby communities.
Leslie Cameron, who rented the home’s downstairs suite, told Global News she’d left the property less than an hour before the deadly fire.
Not long afterward, her husband phoned to tell her to come back.
“Tom said, ‘You just need to come to the house,’ and I said, ‘Is it bad?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’”
“I was in shock. It was very surreal watching it burn … But hearing that there were other people possibly still in the home was really, really heartbreaking.”
North Cowichan Fire Chief Ron French said the fire is believed to have started in the lower suite.
Four occupants were upstairs at the time, but only one managed to escape.
A second occupant who was alerted to the fire tried to go back in and rescue someone else, only to lose their own life, French said.
“I know it is tempting and you want to do whatever you can at the moment to try and save somebody, but it is so important, once you are out of the house, especially with that type of fire and involvement, you don’t want to go back in,” he said.
None of the victims have been identified, and French said it remains unclear if there were working smoke alarms inside.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
“We have determined where it was location-wise, but it could be left undetermined,” French said, citing the severity of the destruction.
The community, meanwhile, is coming to the aid of the Camerons, who lost everything in the fire — including their son’s ashes and photographs going back three generations.
“It is a very humbling experience to have all of these people coming and dropping off clothing and ask how they can help,” Cameron said.
Supporters have also launched a GoFundMe campaign with the goal of getting the family back on their feet.