Smoke billows from a home on Broughton Pl. in north Nanaimo. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

house fire

VIDEO: Residents & neighbours escape ‘terrifying’ north Nanaimo house fire

Oct 14, 2022 | 4:03 PM

NANAIMO — Smoke was visible across a wide area of Nanaimo following a mid-afternoon fire causing significant damage.

Multiple engines were called out to the blaze on Friday, Oct. 14 shortly before 3:30 p.m. to Broughton Pl. in the Rutherford Rd. /Uplands Dr. area.

The home’s rear exterior and a back shed was fully engulfed with flames by the time Nanaimo Fire Rescue (NFR) crews arrived, while occupants of neighbouring properties quickly evacuated on their own accord.

“I have a camera and I saw the neighbours’ son bang on my door and when I got up to go answer my grandson who was sitting with me yells ‘he’s gone, he’s gone’,” Penny Adams, who lives next door, told NanaimoNewsNOW. “I came running out and (the occupant) is screaming at me ‘Penny get out of the house!'”

Adams moved a propane tank near the outside of her home further away from the fire, noting she heard the fire cause three or four loud explosions.

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Two brothers living in the rental property were home at the time got out safely.

Adams said they tried to do what they could with garden hoses before firefighters arrived.

“I’m spraying this thing and with the explosions, it’s terrifying,” Adams said. “I grab (my grandson) and got out and they won’t let us back in to get the dogs because of the smoke. I’m terrified it’s going to get on my roof, and my car…I’m afraid my car was going to catch on fire.”

Aftermath of a damaging house fire in Nanaimo on Friday, Oct. 14. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Fire crews limited damage to the impacted property, NFR assistant chief Stu Kenning said on scene.

“We evacuated the neighbourhood homes out of precaution, but they were not affected,” he said.

Kenning said nobody was injured. He added it was not immediately clear what caused the fire.

One of the occupants of the badly damaged home said an electrical fire originated in a backyard shed, which then lept to the house.

Firefighters had the blaze substantially under control by around 4 p.m.

Dozens of people living in the area watched as firefighters knocked down the fire, while others in the area left to escape thick plumes of smoke.

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