Elderly man dead following basement fire in east Vancouver home

VANCOUVER – An elderly man has died following a house fire in a Vancouver after emergency crews had difficulty finding him in a basement suite.

Vancouver firefighters arrived at a home in the east end of the city just after 4 a.m. Sunday morning to find heavy smoking coming from the basement.

Assistant fire chief Kevin Wilson says most residents got out of the building safely, but there was some confusion about the location of an elderly man.

Wilson says when rescuers found the man, they pulled him from the building and performed life-saving efforts in the backyard for one hour, but were unsuccessful.

The victim has not been identified.

Firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire, but Wilson says it started in the basement.

He says the other residents were lucky to escape.