1 injured by back yard blaze in White Rock

Two sheds caught fire behind a home in White Rock Tuesday afternoon, sending one person to hospital with minor burns and spreading thick smoke above the city’s East Beach area.

White Rock Fire Department Chief Ed Wolfe tells CityNews that when his crews arrived on the scene, flames had reached “50 to 60 feet in the air” as two sheds burned in the backyard of a house on Lee Street.

Wolfe says one person was transported to hospital with minor burns to his upper body. He said no firefighters were injured as they knocked down the flames.

The department was unable to confirm, but Wolfe said it was likely that embers from the shed fires were responsible for starting another small fire on Parker Street.

“It’s a windy day, so at this point in time, we assume it was an ember that made its way to the neighbouring house a block over, and it landed. It landed in some garden vegetation up front of the house, which apparently caught the exterior cedar siding on fire,” said Wolfe.

He says there may be some smoke damage to neighbouring homes and confirmed that while the house on Lee Street is undamaged, the sheds were a “complete write-off.”

Wolfe gave kudos to his crews for noticing the secondary fire right away.

Several posts shared online show thick smoke rising from the neighbourhood, with some reporting ash falling onto their properties.

One person reported hearing a loud explosion-like sound prior to seeing smoke rise high above.

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The cause of the fire is not clear at this time. Wolfe says the investigation into the origin will continue Wednesday.