Nobody was injured in a mobile home fire on Hodges Road in Parksville. The fire was put out within minutes after five fire departments responded at around 1:30 p.m. to the blaze, according to Fire Chief Marc Norris. The two occupants got out safely.
“On arrival we found a double wide mobile home style residence with smoke and fire coming from the chimney area on the exterior mainly,” said Norris.
There is quite a bit of smoke damage to the structure, he said. Fire crews had to bring down the home’s ceiling and the wall around the chimney to ensure the fire had not spread to places not visible to firefighters, according to Norris. A carport next to the home was also damaged.
Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Errington, Coombs and Nanoose fire departments responded to the call. Norris said some of the departments responded with water tenders because the home is in an area without access to fire hydrants. Fire crews pumped in water from the tenders to the fire.
“The biggest challenge in this area is the lack of water supply, but thankfully the fire wasn’t that major,” said Norris.
He said he thinks the fire was caused when a fire in the residence’s chimney spread to other parts of the structure through cracks in the masonry.
“It’s an older structure and looks like from repeated use and age there was a crack in the masonry and the fire was able to get into the roof area,” said Norris.
