Penticton firefighters called to townhouse bedroom blaze

PENTICTON – Quick action by Penticton firefighters kept a bedroom blaze from spreading in a townhouse complex yesterday.

Penticton Fire Chief Wayne Williams says the department received a call to 3099 South Main St. at 6:38 p.m., Sept. 3, to find a bedroom in one of the units at the Chateau Village ablaze.

“The truck rolling from number two hall saw smoke on their way and upgraded the call to a second alarm. Upon arriving they say flames coming from a second floor window and upgraded the call to a third alarm,” Williams says.

Williams says firefighters used a new technique known as “pencilling” to quickly knock down the fire, explaining the new method involves attacking the fire with a few quick shots with a straight stream nozzle setting, instead of the normally used fog stream.

Williams says he believes the new method saved time and prevented further fire damage to the townhouse unit, which suffered fire damage to the bedroom, and smoke and water damage to other parts of the unit.

Williams says everyone exited the complex safely. Emergency Social Services have put the family up in a local hotel.

Residents on either side of the townhouse unit were able to return to their homes last night.

The fire department is currently investigating the cause of the fire.

A GoFundMe webpage has been set up for the displaced family who could use donations of food, blankets and clothing.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

— This story was updated at 11:26 a.m., Friday, Sept. 4, 2015 to add new information.