Elderly man killed in overnight house fire
A man in his 70s was killed Sunday in an early-morning house fire in East Vancouver.
Investigators said the man was living in the basement suite of the two-storey house on the 2600-block of East 47th Avenue.
“It’s a terrible tragedy,” said Kevin Wilson, assistant chief of operations for Vancouver Fire Rescue.
“It’s something that never leaves anyone involved.”
The home had been converted into numerous suites. When firefighters arrived there was heavy smoke coming from the basement, Wilson said.
Three people who lived in the upstairs of the home were already outside and alerted firefighters that there was a tenant in the basement.
Wilson said firefighters were directed to one area of the basement.
“We were told to enter there. We searched that area methodically but he was found collapsed in the opposite corner of the basement,” he said.
B.C. Ambulance paramedics and firefighters pulled the man into the backyard and worked on reviving him for an hour but he died at the scene. Fire investigators spent much of the day on scene examining the aftermath of the blaze. Further details would be made available at a press conference on Monday, Wilson said.
It’s a terrible tragedy. It’s something that never leaves anyone involved.