Fire at North Okanagan farm sends two to hospital

SPALLUMCHEEN – Two employees at a farm in Spallumcheen north of Vernon were burned in a shed fire this morning.

Emergency crews were called just before 11 a.m. today, May 14, to a fire at the farm in the 4700 block McLeery Road in Spallumcheen, according to an RCMP media release.

RCMP officers and firefighters arrived to find a shed on the property engulfed in flames.

The fire was promptly extinguished but two farm employees received moderate burns to their bodies, RCMP say.

"Two employees of the farm sustained injuries as a result of the fire and were transported to the nearest medical facility, with one being airlifted out by the BC Ambulance Service," Vernon RCMP spokesperson Const. Kelly Brett said in the release. "Fire investigators remain on scene, however there is no indication that the fire is suspicious at this time and may have been caused by a propane powered pressure washer being used by farm staff, shortly before the fire broke out."

No animals were injured in the fire.


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Ben Bulmer

Ben Bulmer

After a decade of globetrotting, U.K. native Ben Bulmer ended up settling in Canada in 2009. Calling Vancouver home he headed back to school and studied journalism at Langara College. From there he headed to Ottawa before winding up in a small anglophone village in Quebec, where he worked for three years at a feisty English language newspaper. Ben is always on the hunt for a good story, an interesting tale and to dig up what really matters to the community.