The Bouchie Lake Fire Department was called out to King Pit Road for a structure fire at 7-39 this (Wednesday) morning.
Fire Chief Jeff Lefebvre says it was called in as an outbuilding on fire.
“It was in a C Can with a structure built around it, and there was acetylene torches in the C Can that had been going off and there was ammunition in the C Can that was going off. The total structure on the front was a write-off. We managed to save the structure on the back that had all the fire wood for the homeowner for the winter.”
Lefebvre says they also managed to keep it from spreading to a house on the property.
“The house was about 15 to 20 yards away from the structure and it didn’t sustain any damage. One side-by-side took some damage and a tractor trailer truck, a semi-truck, took some front end damage. We managed to cool those off. The homeowner was doing what he could to prevent from spreading as well, with shovels and snow.”
Lefebvre says they were on scene for about 1 1/2 hours in bitter cold, and he says the weather definitely presented them with some challenges.
“We took the engine and tender out and arrived and started to set up. One of our hose lines had already froze in the truck where we couldn’t get water out the back end, so we went through the side. We managed to pump water off the side of the truck. The pump wouldn’t work right away. It took us about 30 seconds, a minute to get it to cooperate and start pumping water, and then it pumped fine. We did manage to split one hose and break another one wrapping up because they were so cold and brittle.”
Lefebvre says they have a pretty good idea on the cause.
“The homeowner figures it was the wood stove. He fired up the wood stove this morning to warm up the generator which he could then plug into his truck to start up. He went in for a coffee and came back out and it was on fire.”
Lefebvre says no one was hurt, although he admits there were some cold fire fighters.
He says they had to put the Quesnel Fire Department on standby for a couple of hours as well to thaw the engine out.