B.C. apartment blaze claims mother, son

VANCOUVER • A mother and her eight-year-old son died when they became trapped in their burning apartment building in North Vancouver early Monday.

The child’s father, who was separated from his family by flames, survived by leaping off the balcony. The couple’s 11-year-old son also managed to escape by jumping from a second-floor window onto a trampoline.

At least 16 others were injured in the fire that ripped through one of four buildings in the 170-unit complex at about 2:30 in the morning.

Sabina Doyle, a Mountain Village resident who lives in a building next to the two-storey wooden building charred by the fire, was awakened by screams.

“I thought it was kids having a party because there was all this yelling. Then I heard two big explosions,” she said.

Her husband, Dennis, noted the explosions sounded like propane tanks going off.

Residents witnessed people jumping out of windows of the burning units to escape the smoke and flames.

Neighbour Tehra Dougall said the explosions drew her out of her home.

“We got out here and there were injured people laying on the side of the grass ... a man whose hands were covered in blood,” she said. “There were broken windows and people who had apparently jumped out of them.”

Fire crews didn’t immediately realize two people were trapped, said Wayne Kennedy, deputy chief with the District of North Vancouver.

“There was some mention to us, early on, that there were a couple of people who weren’t accounted for, but due to the intensity of the fire and the amount of units that were involved it wasn’t a safe alternative for us to get into some of the units until we had a better control of the fire.”

Firefighters were able to check the suites several hours later and found both people in the same unit.

The BC Coroners Service confirmed via email that it is in the early stages of an investigation into two deaths.

The victims were from the same family, but their names and ages have not been released, police said.

Fire officials say 16 people were taken to hospital with various injuries, ranging from minor to severe, some with serious burns.

More than 30 firefighters from both the District of North Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver, along with seven trucks, attended the blaze and crews were still at the scene late Monday morning.

“We are trying to get at these hot spots without going inside because obviously the structure and integrity has been compromised,” said Kennedy.

He said the RCMP and B.C. Coroners Service are investigating.

About 150 residents were evacuated by city buses to the local Safeway grocery store, and then to the Micky Mcdougall Community Centre nearby.

Those whose homes were unaffected have since been allowed to return home, but North Vancouver RCMP Cpl. Richard de Jong said many Mountain Village residents are now without a home.

“There is extensive damage to the 17 units of the fireravaged building. Approximately 70 residents have been permanently displaced from that apartment building,” de Jong said.

NICK PROCAYLO / POSTMEDIA NEWS Firefighters work the scene where two died and more than a dozen were injured following an early-morning apartment fire in Lynn Valley in North Vancouver, B.C., on Monday. Sixteen suites in two of several buildings in the complex were destroyed.