Skip to content

Busy few days for fire departments

Courtenay firefighters extinguished a log house fire Aug. 2 at Sackville Road in Merville.
68738comox09Macaulaydog2
A firefighter with the Oyster River Fire Rescue tends to a dog that was home when a fire broke out on Macaulay Road.

Courtenay firefighters spent several hours extinguishing a log house fire that broke out around 3 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2 at Sackville Road in Merville.

“They’re (log houses) really tough to put out,” Fire Chief Don Bardonnex said. “Once you get the fire out, you still have to overhaul it and get all the little corners burning.”

No one was injured in the blaze.

“The owner was asleep at the time. He woke up, got out of the house and called 911.”

Bardonnex said it was an accidental fire that started in the area where water pumps are stored.

A total of 31 firefighters attended.

Oyster River Fire Rescue assisted by sending a tanker and dumping two loads of water.

“We went through 16,100 gallons of water,” Bardonnex said. “Thanks to Oyster River for their assistance.”

That same morning, Courtenay firefighters had been tending to a car fire at around 2:25 a.m. at Marble Place off Malahat Drive in Courtenay.

In the 72 hours before the log house fire, Bardonnex figures the firehall received 18 calls.

Then on Tuesday night, Courtenay firefighters assisted Oyster River with a house fire on Macaulay Road in Black Creek. The garage was fully involved and flames were starting to travel toward the house when the first engine arrived.

“There was nobody home when the fire started,” Fire Chief Bruce Green said.

Except for minimal smoke damage, firefighters saved the house. They also rescued two dogs and a cat.

“It’s a nice thing we have the mutual aid agreement,” Green said. “It works well both ways. We’re grateful that they’re there for us when we need them.”