VANCOUVER — A child has died in a house fire on Vancouver's east side and five family members rescued from the residence are in hospital.
Capt. Jonathan Gormick of Vancouver Fire and Rescue could not provide an age or gender of the child who died.
.@VanFireRescue attacking working fire near E 15 Ave and Nootka - treating patients for burns. @cbcnewsbc pic.twitter.com/EfKSKIVdiq
— Kamil Karamali (@KamilKaramali) January 6, 2017
He says two other children and three adults who survived suffered smoke inhalation and burns.
Gormick says firefighters arrived to see flames and smoke coming from the first and second floors of the home.
SPACE HEATERS IDENTIFIED AS CAUSE OF FIRE
Vancouver fire officials believe space heaters caused a fire that killed a two-and-a-half-year-old girl on Thursday afternoon.
Fire Chief John McKearney says investigators have traced the blaze to two space heaters near the child's bed.
He says the house also did not have any working smoke alarms.
Three other family members, a mother and two other children, were able to escape.
.@VanFireRescue attacking working fire near E 15 Ave and Nootka - treating patients for burns. @cbcnewsbc pic.twitter.com/EfKSKIVdiq
— Kamil Karamali (@KamilKaramali) January 6, 2017
McKearney says they are being treated in hospital for serious burns and smoke inhalation.
He says the house was "fairly well involved" by the time fire crews arrived at the home on the city's east side, but the response was not delayed by icy roads in the neighbourhood.
Forty-five firefighters, along with police and arson investigators, responded to the fire.
