Firefighters from four departments responded to an early morning house fire in Port Alberni on Friday.
In a post on Facebook, the Port Alberni Fire Department shared a video of the fire shortly before 2 a.m.
Port Alberni, Beaver Creek, Cherry Creek and Sproat Lake fire departments responded to the fire in the 3900 block of 4th Avenue.
All residents were able to get out of the house, the post says.
Just before 3:45 a.m. the Port Alberni Fire Department shared that the fire was out and all crews had returned to the station.
A resident who was in the house at the time the fire started told CHEK News the couch caught fire then quickly spread to the rest of the house.
“The front window started cracking and was ready to fall,” he said. “I was underneath it trying to turn the hose on.”
“The hose was not working.”
Watch the full video below:
He said there were four or five people living in the house at the time, and everyone escaped without injuries.
Mike Owens, the chief of the Port Alberni Fire Department, the fire was shooting from windows when crews arrived.
“Those early 911 that we received prevented the fire from spreading beyond the original building,” Owens said.
There was also a cat in the house who managed to escape. The house is now boarded up and the restoration crew says the cat has been trying to get back inside the house.
The restoration crew says neighbours say he is leaving food and water out for the cat until they can find its owner.
This is a developing story. More details will be added as they become available.
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Laura Brougham
