Flames shoot from a Station Rd. home in Coombs on the evening of Tuesday, July 8 (Ashlee Dreger)

By Ian Holmes

structure fire

‘It was a total loss:’ Coombs home destroyed in evening fire

Jul 9, 2025 | 2:29 PM

COOMBS — More than 30 firefighters from multiple regional departments responded to a substantial house fire.

Ron Schildroth, Coombs-Hilliers Volunteer Fire Department chief, said they were alerted to the Station Rd. Blaze on Tuesday, July 8 at about 9:10 p.m.

He said crews responded to find a single-family, wood-framed home fully engulfed in flames.

“No one was inside; it was uninhabited. It’s an older home under renovation,” Schildroth said.

Due to the fire’s volatility and inability to save the structure, Schildroth said a defensive firefighting posture was taken.

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“It was a total loss.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

“We made sure that we had crews protected from any exposures. There was one building fairly close, but we made sure that we had it protected so there was no chance of any other buildings catching fire.”

As many as 35 firefighters were on scene at the fire’s peak, Schildroth noted, with mutual aid partners from fire halls in Parksville, Qualicum Beach and Dashwood also responding.

Schildroth noted it took about three hours to completely extinguish the fire.

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