Good Samaritan alerts West Kelowna homeowner to roof fire

A resident in the 2400 block of Thacker Drive in West Kelowna was woken up at about 1:30 a.m. today, March 22, with a banging on his door to warn him that his roof was on fire.

When West Kelowna Fire Rescue crews arrived the cedar shake roof was on fire, quickly growing and reaching deep into the roof structure.

“Crews immediately hit the fire with the deck gun from Engine 32, then stretched hand lines into, and around, the home to extinguish the fire,” says a news release from the fire department. “The fire was deep seated in the roof structure and proved difficult to fully extinguish. However, crews were able to pull the ceilings and get sufficient volumes of water into the roof spaces to knock the fire down and save the rest of the home.”

Still, there was significant water damage along with the burnt and partially collapsed roof.

“The homeowner was in the house at the time of the fire and was woken by a good Samaritan who saw the flames and pounded on the door alerting the resident inside,” the news release says. “There were no injuries to the resident or the pets, and the house is insured.”

The fire appears to have been caused by a wood stove and is not considered suspicious but is under investigation.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Rob Munro or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submitphotos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.