Fire consumes beach house

An early morning fire on Saturday, Aug. 1, has left a 60-year-old recreation home on the 3000 block of Lower Road in Roberts Creek in ashes.

Roberts Creek volunteer fire department chief Bruce Searle said he got the 9-1-1 dispatch call around 4 a.m. to the Lower Road home, but by the time firefighters arrived, the house was beyond saving.

"The roof had burnt through. Most of the main part of the house was already involved," Searle said.

One of the home's four occupants was treated for minor burns at St. Mary's Hospital and released.

Searle said the age and cedar frame of the house played a large part in the fast movement of the fire, which the responding members were able to knock down in about 40 minutes.

According to Sunshine Coast RCMP, the fire is not considered suspicious.

"It is believed to have spread from an earlier fire in an outdoor fireplace that was thought to have been extinguished," said Const. Jacob Joslin in a news release.

When Coast Reporter asked Searle if the fire was in violation of the fire ban, he said, "That's hard to say. Probably. It wasn't a beach fire, put it that way."

Searle said there was considerable risk of the fire spreading to the nearby trees and residences.

"It's right against forest. There was a small break at the back of the house, about five feet to the trees, so there was a lot around the house. Being a beach house, all the residences were pretty close together," he said.

The home belonged to the Covernton family, one of the original settlers of the Roberts Creek beach area at the turn of the century. The land has been passed down through the family for several generations.

Neighbour Steve Mitten said the family was first alerted to the fire by Dave Ryan, another neighbour, who was awakened in the night and saw the house already engulfed.

"He ran over, burst in their door and screamed 'everybody up! everybody out!' It was just luck that he happened to wake up," Mitten said.

From there, other neighbours sprang to action, alerting each other and preparing to evacuate if necessary.

"We just kind of split up and started to phone people and bang on doors and get everyone ready in case the fire did jump to the forest. So everyone was awake and packing their valuables and just holding their breath," Mitten said.

Neighbour Howie Charters said several other homes along the beach are still owned by other members of the Covernton family, which has been a large source of support in a time of loss.

"They really rally around when there is a crisis like this, both to react at the time and to emotionally support afterwards," said Charters.

Charters offered praise for firefighters for being able to contain the fire before it put the rest of Roberts Creek in jeopardy while residents prepared for the worst.

"We just threw everything into our cars, ready to flee. It was totally terrifying," he said. "I really have to commend the way [the members] handled themselves. They obviously knew what they were doing. To get that thing under control in the conditions we have today was superb."

Searle's message of caution for outdoor fires is simple.

"No outdoor fires right now," he said definitively.

He said despite the fire ban, he is still encountering people having beach fires and campfires in wooded areas.