No one was seriously hurt, but a house undergoing renovations on Gibsons Way was almost completely destroyed by fire last Friday (Aug. 6).
Gibsons volunteer fire department chief Bob Stevens said the department received a structural fire call around 1:30 p.m. and had trucks on the scene in about four minutes.
Stevens said the 100-year-old house was in the process of being moved from the front of the property at 709 Gibsons Way and being set on a new foundation near the back of the lot. The fire destroyed everything but the new foundation.
"In essence, the house on top is totally gone," Stevens said.
There was additional significant heat and smoke damage to nearby townhouses including blown out windows and melted plastic and shingles, he added.
Stevens said the fire appears to have broken out while renovation workers were not in the building.
"The guys left the site for a while and while they were gone, it pretty much went up. It was unoccupied at the time," he said.
As for the cause of the fire, Stevens said it might not be known for a of couple weeks.
"It's still under investigation at this point. We did have our own people go through and take a look at it and the insurance company brought up their people over the weekend to have a look so it's still ongoing. There's nothing obvious at the outset," he said.
He added that there is no reason at this point to label the fire suspicious.
"We didn't see or hear anything that would lead us toward certain criminal activities at all. It's just undetermined at this point," he said.
Stevens said staffing levels at the department are now back to where they should be have running dangerously low on volunteers at the end of 2009.
"We're probably 85 to 90 per cent full capacity as far as members go. So right now we're sitting pretty good. It's always a relief to have those numbers throughout the summer," he said.
