A GOOD SAMARITAN
Nataly Vazquez rescued her East Van neighbour from a house fire caused by fireworks.
Vancouver police say firecrackers or Roman candles are likely to blame for a fire that badly damaged the home of a longtime resident who was rescued from the back porch of his burning house by neighbours late Thursday night.
The homeowner, identified by neighbours as Bruce Mitchell, escaped the blaze without injury, as did his downstairs tenant. Mitchell’s sister, the other resident of the house at the corner of East 10th Avenue and Woodland Drive, was out of town at the time.
Nathaly Vazquez, who lives across the street, said there had been “fireworks galore” in the area all evening.
“The whole week there’s been an increasing amount of firecrackers … (Thursday) night, particularly, it was bad. There was people doing Roman candles, just shooting up the street. I don’t know if they were trying to freak out cyclists, I couldn’t tell you. We were having dinner … and it was just like, wow, what’s with the firecrackers?”
Richard Jeglum, who lives kitty- corner from the house that caught fire, said most of the firework activity was happening in the roundabout intersection beside Mitchell’s home. Just before 10:30 p.m., Jeglum heard a loud noise.
“I heard firecrackers and then about a minute later I heard a big bang and I thought, what’s that? So I stuck my head out the door … and that’s when I could see the front porch was on fire. It was just contained in that one area … it was the foyer.”
The fire spread quickly, moving up toward the second floor, Jeglum said.
Vazquez was getting ready to go to bed when her partner spotted the flames on the front porch out the window.
“I just grabbed my phone, put my shoes on, and I ran across the street to get Bruce out because he’s usually home at night,” she said.
Vazquez called 911 and spoke with the operator as she called her neighbour’s name and banged on the door of his downstairs tenant.
“Finally I got a visual on Bruce, who was on the back balcony” because the front of the house was on fire, Vazquez said.
There were no stairs there, so he was trapped on the second floor.
“He has two cats, so he opened the back door of the balcony and these two big waves of black smoke came (out). That’s when I said, OK Bruce, I’m going to get you out because I don’t know how long we have,” Vazquez said. “(By) the grace of God there was a ladder in the back deck because they were doing work on the roof. So we got the ladder, got him to pass me the ladder. I got the help of one of my neighbours to hold the ladder and we climbed up and we got Bruce out.”
The fire department arrived shortly after. Crews were able to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading to neighbouring homes, said Capt. Jonathan Gormick of Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services.
The damage to Mitchell’s home, however, is significant. Vancouver police estimate the damage at about $500,000.
While police are describing the incident as arson, they do not believe it was intentional, said Const. Brian Montague.
“We’re looking for three people that were seen running away from the area and then getting into a vehicle. We do have a number of witnesses that we’ve spoken to that have provided us with some information, some descriptions on these three as well as a vehicle description. We’re not sharing that right now,” Montague said, adding that police want to make sure the information is accurate before making it public.
Fireworks are banned in many B.C. municipalities, but not in Vancouver. They can be bought in the city from Oct. 25 to 31 with a permit and two pieces of ID. Permits are free, but residents must complete a fireworks safety test to acquire one. Fireworks can be discharged only on Oct. 31.
While this was the first incidence of property damage related to fireworks in Vancouver this Halloween season, Montague said it is unlikely to be the last.
“We see huge amounts of property damage. We see injuries related to fireworks. We’re hoping that parents have a good chat with their kids about it and that people have a talk with themselves, because in a lot of these cases, these aren’t kids and teenagers that are doing this. These are 20-something people, 30-something people,” Montague said. “Here are three people now that are homeless, a house that potentially could have to be demolished to actually be rebuilt.”
Vazquez said Mitchell, who she said took great pride in his home and garden, is doing “fine.”
“He’ll be well cared for,” she said. “They’re great, great neighbours … I just felt so good that we were there, that he was in our home and that we could offer our house.
“Amongst the bad, it was very safe. We didn’t feel scared. It was just sad.”