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Blaze destroys Masset home

A fire Tuesday evening (March 18) in Masset brought out virtually every emergency vehicle in the north end and destroyed one mobile home, but resulted in no injuries or other property damage.?It happened about 8:00 pm at 1725 Old Beach Road, when Masset firefighters, already holding their regular Tuesday evening practice, got the call.?"We didn't have exact address, we knew it was across the causeway near Masset grocery," Masset's fire chief Sylvan Daugert said, "we immediately knew where it was, because it was quite obvious from quite a distance away. The building was engulfed."?Old Massett's fire department was also practising that evening, and both crews arrived on the scene within minutes of the call. When they arrived, they found that the front part of the mobile home was not completely in flames, but the back half was, as was a joey shack, which had flames pouring out of it.?Mr. Daugert says the crews attacked the fire right away, then had to step back until the electricity was turned off.?"We had real safety issues with the power," Mr. Daugert said, "BC Hydro was amazingly responsive?One of their crew was there in literally minutes to cut the power?I cannot stress how incredibly quickly he was on the scene."?Mr. Daugert says he doesn't remember all the details of the fire because he was on one of the attack teams and "your focus (becomes) a little narrow."?But he does say there was a real danger the fire could spread to nearby trees and other buildings.?"That was quite close to happening. Especially when we were waiting for the power to go off. We really did think there was a distinct chance we were going to lose the other buildings," he said.?In all, about 15 firefighters from both Masset and Old Massett were on the scene, along with police officers and two paramedics. There were a total of five fire trucks, two police cars and an ambulance there as well. Mr. Daugert said a resident of the home left just after raising the alarm and before the fire department arrived, thinking there was nothing more that could be done.?"If you are involved in a fire like that, stick around to let us know if there is anything or anyone in the building,"?Mr. Daugert said. In this case, there was no one else home, but there was a 100-pound propane tank outside, which was empty, but firefighters didn't know that at the outset.?The fire likely started in the chimney or the stove, the building is a complete write off and an insurance adjuster is now investigating.?Firefighters remained on the scene until about 12:30 am to make sure the fire was extinguished.?Ironically Mr. Daugert had only been fire chief for a week when the blaze broke out. He is very thankful for all the help his department received.?"I also want to stress how incredibly grateful we are to the Old Massett Fire Department who went above and beyond in assisting us," he said.