A working smoke alarm is being credited for the safe evacuation of a young family from their West Sechelt home last Friday evening, after a devastating fire swept through their house, quickly destroying everything they owned.
The house was home to local volunteer firefighter Roger Joe, Megan Fraser, a kindergarten teacher in Roberts Creek, and three young children.
Sechelt Fire Department chief Dwight Dixon said the family sustained a “very substantial fire,” to their residence. He added, it looks like the culprit was a lithium-ion battery, which overheated.
“Unfortunately, the battery system overheated and the result was a fire,” said Dixon. “And it was actually a fire on the outside of their house but, unfortunately, due to the location of where the fire was, up against the house, it did breach into the house, which sustained a large amount of damage.”
Dixon said the battery had originally started to overheat inside the home, so it was moved outside for safety, but a while later it ignited.
“They were home at the time and all family members were able to get out of the home safely and the pets were all able to escape safely as well,” said Dixon. “So, it was the housing contents that really sustained the major damage. So, thank goodness there was nobody injured.”
Dixon said the family has insurance, but as with most residential fires, there are many items they lost, which can’t be replaced for any amount of money. For now, the family is depending on the kindness of friends and family for a place to stay.
A GoFundMe has been started to help the family and the $20,000 goal had already been surpassed by the weekend. As of Wednesday morning, the fund was at $25,920. According to the GoFundMe, it will take up to two years for the family to have a permanent home to return to.
As well, Joe’s sister Raquel Joe, organized a 50/50 draw to help raise money for the family. Raquel told Coast Reporter, in just several hours the 50/50 was at $3,1060, half of which went to the family.
Dixon said Sechelt Fire Department had 16 firefighters with three apparatus at the scene, with support from Halfmoon Bay, which also responded with an apparatus and extra firefighters.
Dixon noted, there’s been an increasing number of residential fires caused by lithium-ion batteries and people should take great care when recharging them.
“You should charge them in as safe of a place as you can. Don't leave them unattended for long periods of time. And if you're ever in doubt, remove them fully from your house and place them far enough away that you know they're not going to touch the house or anything like that,” said Dixon. “It's also a good idea that when you are purchasing things like that, that you purchase ones that are certified. You want to try to stay away from knock-off products, products that don't have that type of certification, because, they don't undergo that same stringent testing that our country puts that kind of stuff through.”
Products certified in Canada, will be marked with “CSA,” “cUL,” or “cETL.” The Government of Canada also offers information and safety tips on the use and storage of these batteries. Dixon adds, the fire service wants to see more research into the batteries, including what’s causing the fires and better ways to prevent these types of accidents.
Dixon says a working smoke detector is also vital in keeping homes safe from fire.
“Working smoke alarms save lives. The family were home and were alerted to the fire by a smoke alarm and that gave them the time to escape safely.”
